Coffee sets like these are extremely common

in what’s left of Bosnian households

almost every single family has their own set

      (even with little else to their name)

and sit around tables

      playing cards

      coffee sets

      and sugar cubes

 

a coffee set between me and my grandmother

the last time I saw her

      playing cards 

      sugar cubes dipped in the dark coffee

all of us in a three room apartment

laughing

playing cards

I know that their faces were happy to see me

but also noticed the empty chairs of who was no longer there

 

 

my grandmother had a laugh that only queited while drinking coffee

yet I doubt it was heard over the gun fire

     hunters perched on the hills

and I doubt there was much use for the coffee set

     with the city drawn into the copper

     an artifact of what it looked like

           even the hills in the background

I doubt there was much use for this very coffee set

or for all the extra chairs that used to be filled