Quart size glasses

Filled to the brim with ice

The kind of ice that comes in plastic cubes

Cracked into the freezer bin

Little cubes cold and split

Packed tight into the glass

Brewed on the stove in an aluminum pan

Family size black tea, six.

Steeped in the steam

Diluted with well water

the taste of sulphur at times

Until the day of the city water

When the lemon was added

along with the lead and the flouride.