Marte Broehm: Something Old with a Fresh Look

I recently purchased a new cell phone. I liked my old cell phone, but it seemed less enchanted with me, gave me all kinds of problems. The company sent several new ones to me, they all developed attitudes, so the company finally sent me an entirely different model. I liked it. I decided to play with its camera to get used to it.

At about the same time, I had a friend tell me about the importance of adding  “good fats” into my daily diet, how they would help combat skin lines and wrinkles (pesky things; I’m sure it had nothing to do with my age, or what she read on my face). I went to Whole Foods and bought the coconut oil she recommended.

I decided to blend my two new things into something “one.” I took a picture of my morning coffee inside my cup. I added coconut oil to my morning cup of coffee, aimed my cell phone camera, clicked. I stirred coconut oil in before I added my cream, aimed and clicked a picture. I stirred coconut oil in after adding my cream. Click. Then I started looking at the sides and rims of my ceramic mugs. Click, click, click with all of above variations. Then I started to notice that when I finished drinking my coffee, the coconut oils created new residues that were beautiful or eerie or similar to the possibilities of what one sees and imagines reading tea leaves. Wow. I changed the color of the cup I used each morning, colors, some plain, some with swirl designs inside. Click. I’ve become a maniac, focusing my camera, clicking pictures of my morning coffee. Changing the angle, the light source (natural light, florescence, skylight), which counter I set it on. I’ve found myself meditating about my coffee.

And coffee and coconut oil have found their way into my heart, into my poetry and writing. It’s been fascinating to find something so routine become so new to me. Find something for yourself, familiar or old to look at in a different way, different light, imagine, wonder, write. That’s what we writers do. Just write.

Marte Broehm’s nonfiction appears in LAR 9.