Ode To Tab

Please enjoy an ode poem that I wrote in 2016 in celebration of the birthday of Tab Cola.  Now with the Coronavirus Pandemic, Coca Cola has discontinued Tab.  The poem was prophetic if not poetic, and the ode has turned into a type of eulogy.   What do you love?

Ode To Tab

Laurie Benson© 2016

Bubbles

you wake me up,

you pick me up,

you keep me up.

Caramel coloring

you're always on my mind,

especially when I'm tired

or having a panic attack.

Bright pink aluminum can,

with a font that Kyle would probably approve of.

The hopeful sound of your tab as it is popped in.

You are my youth,

my memories,

my celebrations.

I've given you up,

bought you up

and drank you up.

I've worried you'll be impossible to find,

and I've hoarded boxes of you.

Your six packs have hung over

the sides of my shopping carts,

when plastic six-pack carriers

weren't known to kill ocean creatures.

I've crushed you when you're empty,

and held you to my broken fingers

when I couldn't find an ice pack.

Michael J. Fox, Bart Simpson,

Austin Powers and That 70's Show,

Fellow Tabaholics, celebrating your

50th birthday, right along with mine.

Your creation was marketing to women

who wanted to keep "tabs" on their 

weight, and

I've been doing that for thirty-seven years,

through anorexia, dieting, pills and starving,

I've definitely kept "tabs" on you.

You have promised me nothing but that,

and have kept your promises,

just as advertised.

Students remember me for drinking you,

People have judged me for buying you,

But if it's possible to love a thing,

I love and adore you.