Tags
blackout poetry, coffee, creative writing, found poetry, north carolina writers, raleigh, writing, writing process, writing prompts
My love and I started exploring small-town coffee shops last year. On rare weekends when we have no morning commitments, we head out to visit (or re-visit) places I’ve discovered through my foodie feed on Instagram or exploring random places on Google Maps.
Latte at Buggy Town Coffee.
Our favorite spot so far is close to an hour south of us in Carthage, North Carolina. Buggy Town Coffee is a bright coffee shop with a full breakfast menu (and lunch too), creative lattes, loose-leaf teas, and they sell coffeemakers and coffee and tea-themed bath goods. (The coffee cardamom body scrub makes showers yummy!)
Part of our drive out to the coffee shop is on North Carolina Scenic Byways. I know not everyone shares my sentiments, but when I see a barn my stress level plummets. When I see cows and horses, it hits the basement. Our entire drive there passes rolling farmland, fields with tattered hunting blinds, and more cows than I can count. With the trees still out of bloom, I point out every ball of mistletoe flashing green in bare forked branches.
Blackout poetry made from a local newspaper.
I get so many ideas for stories on these drives. A few months ago I used the local paper to create a blackout poem. A few favorite lines that resulted:
a giant tiny inch
splashing the dark like bourbon
choked beyond luck
I doubt I would have ever come up with those lines if I hadn’t used that week’s local paper that morning we were out there.
Instead of going out to coffee shops with my love or solo, I’m inviting other writers along. My inaugural Country Coffee Prompts is this Saturday, March 25th near Raleigh. I’m keeping the location private and providing it upon registration, but if it helps in making your decision – this coffee shop is located about a 20-minute drive east of downtown Raleigh. We meet at 1PM and we’ll fill 90-minutes with prompt-based writing. The fee is $29 and includes a drink and a pastry of your choice. Register here before end of day Friday.
Write Naked 
How fun! Is the secret coffee shop owned by the son of a certain poet we both know? If so, you’re in for a treat!!
I don’t know the owners of the secret coffee shop. I’ll drop you an email tmrw and see if it is! 🙂
What a great idea. Wish I lived close enough to you I could participate. You did give me an idea about something I can do here. We have a small coffee shop that is not advertised much, but it run by a friend of mine. I think I’ll email some writers to meet there for a social gathering and to exchange some ideas. Thanks.
Yes, try it out by you or even at a place that’s a bit of a drive away, adds an element of adventure and gets everyone out of the norm.
I love, love, love coffee shops. I visited Oslo and one of my best friends in March, and one of my daily activities was discovering the cofee shops in the city. 🙂
Aren’t they so inspiring? They draw many different people, some locals and some out-of-towners. Great people-watching and eavesdropping conversations. 🙂