A Year in Four Drinks

I wrote this poem during the bleak November weeks. These stanzas draw on memories of student joys and struggles to show a change in one’s mental state throughout the school year. What better—and simpler—way than through various beverages?

Flat design illustration of a medium purple taro milk tea with boba pearls and ice in a plastic cup against a soft pink to blue pastel gradient background. The first of four drinks in this poem.

Sophia Wasylinko | Contributor

02.21.25
| Vol. 56, No. 5 | Poetry

A Year in Four Drinks

Summer

Order #54: Medium taro milk tea, regular boba pearls, add ice
Bubble tea coats my parched tongue
Tapioca pearls slide against my teeth
I sip / chew on bouncy boba
Replenished, refreshed
The sun shines relentlessly
A whisper of a breeze brushes my skin
Pigeons coo, hoping for a peck of my croffle
I lounge on the porch, back to the ocean
Planning with peers for the weeks ahead

Fall

Order #87: Campus lager, 14 oz
The glass is cool with condensation
Foam floats over, beer bitter beneath
I grimace through tentative swigs
The air swims with bass, booze, and banter
Cold wind blows dry leaves in through the open door
The cute guy gestures to the makeshift dance floor
Gulping / down liquid courage
I ditch tonight’s anxieties at the bar
Knowing they’ll be back with me tomorrow

Winter

Order #9: Black coffee (free from Students’ Union)
Freshly brewed Arabica scalds my tongue
Absent of sugar, cream, sustenance
Two crumpled Styrofoam cups in the trash
Eyes bloodshot, mind fuzzy, papers a panicked mess
Unopened emails, missed calls, skipped messages
The latest, another one from Mom asking / am I okay
I print off my essay with money I don’t have
To submit later with confidence I don’t feel
Outside, the wind kicks up drifts of snow

Spring

Order #6: Spicy Berry Tea, 7 oz.
Raspberry and cinnamon perfume the air
Lips curl into a smile as I inhale
Cupping my hands around rose-hued clay
I taste a garden beginning to bloom
Send a photo to Mom so she knows / I’m okay
Classmates arrive, bringing with them the sun
An exchange of greetings, hugs, encouraging words
Birds chirp on branches decked with green buds
With spring’s arrival, I feel alive again

Summer

Order #12: TBD
A new bubble tea shop opens
Its offerings scrawled in colourful chalk
A blue bubble on my screen says
Go on ahead. Be there in a few
Heart full, spirits high, I step inside
Baking dough, steeping tea, new possibilities
I text my friends / I’m here

Flat design illustration of boba pearls in one of the four drinks.

Flat design illustration of a medium purple taro milk tea with boba pearls and ice in a plastic cup against a transparent background. The first of four drinks in this poem.

Illustration by Tianna Vertigan

about the author

Sophia Wasylinko

Sophia Wasylinko is a Creative Writing and Journalism graduate and a former Navigator and Portaler. Her writing endeavours haven’t stopped since her move back to Kamloops: besides working freelance as a content writer for ICHIGO, she edited and appeared in GOOEY Magazine‘s Fall 2024 issue, and she’ll be editing for them again this year. You can find her shelving books at the downtown library and follow her bookish shenanigans on Instagram. Her future plans: return to Vancouver Island and publish that first novel!