Brian’sPoems

The Collected Writings of Brian J. Mueller

A single poem, met at the right moment, can change a life.

Search and read all 1,834 pieces by Brian J. Mueller — 1,675 poems, 38 prose pieces, and 121 haiku from 12 published volumes. Free to read and share.

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Coffee Shop

What is it you want to stop knowing?
There must be something.
You sit at the table scowling.
Your coffee brings you no pleasure.
Your phone is silent.
None of the thousand portals it opens
are calling to you.

I think you’ve just realized that thing you’ve suspected all along.
A little mouse woke you,
then disappeared into a crack so small
you told yourself it must be nothing.

But the crack was something -
a tiny opening to a bigger universe,
a road sign calling you out into space,
where that little mouse is snickering,
‘cause you thought you were at the center of everything.

Relax for now.
Enjoy your comfy chair.
Yet know that is not what holds you.

Drink your coffee.
Yet know that is not what warms you.

Soon you must take up the path of your life
and find out where it leads you.

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