Liminal Tea

I did not have a bowl of tea under the cherry blossoms on my birthday month in the way I had hoped. This spring’s strangeness outlasted both my birthday and those blooms, going past the scent of summer honeysuckle, and likely to linger after the veins of the last red leaf of autumn are crusted with frost. 

But the peace I find in my practice is also long lasting. Though the fall threatens more strange fruit and bitter harvests, though winter is a specter I can’t yet imagine, my battered mind finds a moment of respite in a space apart, created where the scent of matcha rises when water first meets it, and cradled in the sound of the whisk dancing in the bowl. And even if I cannot pass a bowl of tea to another’s appreciative hand, that rest found between the liminal spaces of foam and pouring water can travel freely for miles, any time to anyone who sets aside a corner of their heart for tea. 

I’ve learned to adapt,
mixing matcha for one. But
I can still share tea
steeped in my heart, an ocean
away, yet linked by spirit.

This was taken on the New Year's tea celebration my tea school holds every year.
It feels like a lifetime ago.




Liner Notes for This Groove: This piece was created for the prompt given at Poets and Storytellers United's Weekly Scribblings #35, The Joy of Rest. It was also inspired by a request from my tea teacher. This September Urasenke North America is holding a chado relay, where they invite members from the different tea schools in North America to share images and words about their practice during these socially distanced times. I am a member of Urasenke Philadelphia and it will be our turn to share from the 7th to the 9th. 

43 comments:

  1. Although I am mostly a coffee drinker, with some side excursions into herbal teas, I love the whole idea of tea involving ritual and reverence, and all the historic connotations of that. The steps of the ritual must be soothing, I think, even when practised alone. You've written it beautifully.

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    1. There is an active meditation aspect to tea. I find when I just let my memory take over as I go through the steps it's very soothing. LOL, learning a new temae (form of tea) is a bit more like figuring out a puzzle, because the steps are modified to better suit what it is you are doing. But I like that aspect of it too. :D

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  2. The pandemic has much to answer for, Rommy, and I’m pleased that you find peace in your tea practice. The seasons seem to have speeded up rather than slowed down while we have been caged by Covid. I enjoy tea and can imagine the joy and peace in the tea ceremony. I enjoyed your description of how ‘the scent of matcha rises when water first meets it, and cradled in the sound of the whisk dancing in the bowl’, and the ‘rest found between the liminal spaces of foam and pouring water’.

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    1. Time seems to have taken the seeming of a Dali painting for me, warped and odd, and always too fast or too slow, never just right. Funnily enough, my tea practice has helped me with that too, as recognizing the familiar patterns of nature as they present themselves where I live helps keep me grounded. We are in the time where fall takes sneak visits in the early morning and night and the yellow jackets are scavenging. In another couple of weeks it will be time for the stink bugs to come out (LOL, and there will likely never be another year where I am so grateful to see them).

      The bit about the scent and the whisk are some of my favorite parts in the tea making process. LOL, I can help but smile a little when I get to those parts.

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  3. Enjoy your matcha. Happy Wednesday

    Much✏love

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  4. I must confess I have cupboard full of different teas from the world over. I don't have favorite and vary what I have each day. It is good to be like this and delight in tea.

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    1. *giggle* Oh I drink more than matcha too. My Darling Youngest has their assortment of must-always-have-on-hand teas too. So we have a fairly extensive tea selection at home. :D

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  5. For me, it's Lapsang Suchong. Yum, and: inspirational.
    Write on.

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    1. One of my favorites is a lapsang souchong blend with chocolate chai. With a dash of cream, it's like a s'more in a cup.

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  6. Isn't it strange how the things we have always enjoyed for relaxation and rnjoyment with others relaxes us still while we are alone. Nicely told, i always like to read how the prompter shows what was in mind when the prompt was published. You never disappoint though i may have today. My heroine latched on.
    ..

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    1. It might be that we have happy feelings associated with when we gathered in a group that still carry over even when alone.

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  7. I have to confess to being a coffee drinker, but I LOVE visiting tea rooms and the ritual that goes along with high tea! Coffee has nothing to equal the tradition of high tea!

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    1. I really miss not being able to hit up a tea room. I hope my favorite ones are still in business after all this mess is over.

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  8. This is beautifully written! <3

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  9. I love the ritual of your tea. The peace in scent and taste, the connectivity to those near and far as you drink a cup of tea. Beautiful

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    1. Thanks, Susie. It's been a bit of an adjustment practicing at home, but so worth it.

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  10. This is one of the best pieces by you, Rommy. You've captured the liminality that came with the pandemic so well. There is also something so beautiful and soothing about your tea ritual. A wonderful write, both words and form!

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    1. Aw! Thanks Khaya. Tea is dear to my heart and I'm just glad I'm able to express that affection well enough.

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  11. Steeped in my heart ~~ such a beautiful post, Ms. Rommy.

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  12. Its just wonderful that you can conjure up a tea in your thoughts and feelings at any time in most any situation. That must be so soothing. I am envious.

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  13. I must add that tea always makes me think of my Grandma, who (at every opportunity!) pronounced it 'the cup that cheers but not inebriates'.

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  14. Anytime is a good time for tea... not matcha for me though, regular brewed milk tea with a dash of ginger or cardamom!

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  15. Tea drinking reminds me of my mum as she is a big tea drinker. Your story reminds me of the tea ceremony they had in the Chinese garden here in Dunedin in NZ. A special experience

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    1. I was fortunate enough to attend a Chinese tea ceremony. That is quite lovely too.

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  16. Love the way the steps in the practice lead into the ceremony of the poem and the care given in the preparation. Hot tea for me tends to be something for colds and generally blue moods & always carries that sense of taking-care-of coziness.

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    1. There's always some comfort in any type of tea I imbibe, and yes lots of coziness too.

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  17. one of the misses of my trip to Japan last year was a tea ceremony. should have slotted in one. i think the tea ceremony represents respect, purity and harmony. an indelible part of their culture.
    P.S. thanks for 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'. :)

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    1. Definitely go if you get the chance!

      LOL, I do love that song too.

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  18. There is so much magic, so much power... in appreciating the goodness we do have. Something starts to whiter when we focus on the the losses. The physical bowl might not be touching the hand of another, but the feelings and the ritual surely reach the soul.

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    1. I do feel the pull of some low-key, but potent, magic when making or sharing a bowl.

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  19. Thank you for offering your lovingly made tea to me!

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  20. I am saving a corner of my heart for tea with you, and cherry blossoms.

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