My notebook by Moleskin and Japanese Pilot Pen
Go well with Taka’s coffee at his Paradocs Coffee Shop
quaintly positioned on my favorite block in LA
On this MLK Day
I sat there reading an article about Samya Stumo
Who sadly lost her life a little less than a year ago
aboard Ethiopia Airlines flight 302
My friend, Moirai, chose this article for me to read
She’s sometimes annoying,
but I accept her recommendations gleefully
I believe it was Moirai
How else would I choose which magazine to read?
They’re all atop that table, strewed
I first met Moirai in high school
Over the past 12 years
I have grown keenly aware of her presence
For her to push this article before me
Proves that finding it was no coincidence
What did Moirai want me to see?
It was that fateful month
March 2019
that things happened
All of them startling
March 1
The 123rd anniversary of the Battle of Adwa
March 10
The Ethiopian Airlines crash
March 31
Ermias Asghedom was assassinated
What a month for East Africa
Home of the biblical kingdom of Axum
Tragedy and triumph
Sadness and pride
That is the paradox I was destined to find at Paradocs coffee shop


