Dunn Brothers
(a parody of Chicago, by Carl Sandburg)
by Id_42 and two classmates around as nutty as he is.

Coffee Grinder for the World,
Cookie Maker, Corrupter of Children,
Player with Prices and the City's Caffeine Supply;
Nervous, tremulous, staccato,
Coffee Shop of the Big Couches:
They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have
seen your caffeinated beverages behind the counter luring the
school children.
And they tell me you are crooked, and I answer: Yes it is true I
have paid your high prices and come back to pay again.
And they tell me you are brutal, and my reply is: In the chairs
around the room I have seen people cringe at the sound of the
cappucino machine.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer
at this my coffee shop, and I give them back the sneer because
it is defective and say:
Come and show me another sneer with curled lip and squinted eye
so arrogant and mean and nasty.
And you reply: This is not a poem about sneers; it is about
coffee shops. And I think, trying to remember where I was going.
Flinging my train of thought back on track amid the difficulty
of piling line on line, here is a tall, bold latté set vivid
against the little soft cookies;
Fierce as a teenager with tongue lapping for coffee, refreshing
as a shot of caffeine to the vein,
Comfortable,
Relaxing,
Unwinding,
Discussing,
Caffeinating, decaffeinating, recaffeinating.
Under the lamps, crumbs all over the table, laughing with yellowed teeth,
Under the weight of terrible profits, laughing as a young entrepeneur laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant student laughs who has never tasted
a double mocha latté with frothy whipped cream, cinnamon, and
a little bit of nutmeg,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and
in his vein the rush of the caffeine,
Laughing!
Laughing the nervous, tremulous, staccato laughter of Youth, half-
crazed, shaking, proud to be Coffee Grinder, Cookie Maker,
Corrupter of Children, Player with Prices and Caffeine Supplier
to the City.