My Black Mug

My black mug sits on the table, watching me,
holds my drink, my cold water and hot tea,
my coke, milk, and coffee.
My humble mug: Silent, patient, loyal, lovely.
Fit for a king or queen.  For heaven.  To hold the sea,
the air, the creation.  You will always be
an anchor in my life, the hero behind the scenes, the kindly
soul who offers to feed the need in me. 
My ceramic wrinkled with cracks, filled with memory,
of touch and trust, you are as real as any
other meaningful reality.

Ode to the Randomized Placebo-Controlled Double Blind Trial

Ached my soul.  I'd dug through PubMed for days,
Looking for evidence best in every place,
With palpitating heart (typing fingers ablaze),
When I saw at last in the "advanced search", your face:
O the most costly and protracted of trials known!
O the golden standard of medical research's best!
O the method most likely to prove causation!
Show me results favoring my thesis alone,
Be thy form free of all conflicts of interest,
Be thee the research that grants me publication.