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The Tidy Life of The Small Table
A Coffee Shop Book

Poems by Fran Weeks
Paintings by Valerie Larsen

   Artist and poet meet for the first time and muse over a common project. The world of war, politics, economics, social issues exist to be treated but they bypass all of them for the coffee shop. People meeting over a beverage in village market places, neighborhood cafés, local pubs, bars, and tea shops is a universal, age old experience.

   They tell each other stories outside the home and the judgment or potential hurt to their loved ones. They relive the day's, week's, or month's best and worst moments. They work at a small table observed and observing others when they lift their eyes from the page, paper, or screen. Often this pause in the dailiness of their lives energizes them. Their perspective shifts from the past to doing best whatever comes next in their lives. Even the gift of mindfulness ensues for those who cannot withdraw and pause elsewhere.

   Why not document the communication and solace of such quiet times in this media hyped, deadline driven modern life? Artist and poet did just that starting in September and going through March of a single year. The work that appears in this book emanates from their own meetings at many Rochester, New York, coffee shops as well as shops they visited in their travels. They want the reader to enjoy the moments they have documented in words and art, to imagine a coffee shop and the small treasure it offers.

Pending Publication

Excerpt from the book

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