the valence cafe

Terry Dawson

June 7, 2026

I wake with a valence of zero,

combining with anyone not

an option sans cafe, I

grow more ferrous by the sip

with one cup imbibed, I nearly

morph mafic igneous rock; I

become Rodin’s “the thinker” now

or is it Dorothy’s tin man? with my 

newfound metal, I soon feel fit to 

meddle in everybody’s business

halfway through round two,

a septuagenarian no longer wary

of words perks up — repartee becoming

an option    with a valence of 4

I approach the hatch/front door,

“drag a comb across my head”

in reverence for two dead Beatles

and plunge straight ahead,

prepared to combine or replace

my hydrogen bits — to give a shit

about the atmosphere   I slip

right foot in first before tugging

the balance of my remaining

elements in tow  this may in fact

be a last chance

I get from the git go

to let go and float

all the atoms within me,

letting them mix swiftly

with all the rest 

in this cosmic cafe   “Say, 

how are you?

Me? I’m fine; nice

to meet you, to

greet you, to be

human with you.”

Valence is the number of chemical bonds an atom forms when it creates a molecule.

Terry Dawson is a retired Presbyterian minister and former adjunct faculty member at San Francisco Seminary. He recently relocated to Madison, Connecticut, but resided in Austin, Texas, for over two decades. While there, he produced the multicultural poetry, jazz, and live painting collaborative "Five Voizz Brush," wrote a guest column on faith for the Austin American-Statesman, and co-chaired the Jazz at St. James' committee of St. James' Episcopal Church. His poetry, essays, and fiction have appeared in many print and online journals over the past fifty years. He's authored two full-length collections of verse: the after: poems only a planet could love (Poets' Choice, 2022) and Pursuing the Ruin (Lamar University Literary Press, due out in 2026).