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dear starbucks red tea latte,

your stay on this earth was short
but i am forever changed.
you are the gamma rays to my hulk.

about 2 months ago, i was introduced to your sugar free,
caffeine free, earthy, milky goodness by the baristas,
yep, i said it… baristas, at my local starbucks.
you were the underdog drink.
san francisco was your ‘test’ market.
if we accepted you, the higher ups would give you the wings to fly.
to fulfill other people’s hopes and dreams around the country
just as you had mine.
‘how lucky we are’, i thought…
’san francisco’s on the forefront of
enviornmental/political movements and now this!’
well, from that day forward, RTL, it was

goodbye sugary, sickly sweet chai latte. hello you.
i found myself waking up in the morning,
filled to bursting at the thought of seeing you again.
cursing starbucks in other parts of the country
who hadn’t yet heard of you.
(i’m a musician, so i travel a lot for business)
and fast forwarding my life until
the moment when we would reunite.

well, they say all that’s good must end.
and life is dynamic.
and things that you once counted on…
love, success, ‘arrested development’, are no longer there for you.
so your time is up, and from the sound of it,
you’re not coming back.
you didn’t ‘resonate’ with the masses. you weren’t a ‘hit.’
well… neither was tom waits or sleater-kinney

or the van halen record with gary cherone.
but god-dammit, i still dig all those things!
they still move me. they changed me…
well, maybe not the VH record but…
and i won’t let your parent company cheapen what we had.
i will write letters just like this,
picket and boycott if i have to, until your safe return.

how’s this, let’s make a pact.
you don’t get discouraged, and i won’t give up fighting.
we’ll get this whole mess sorted.
it’s all we can do. right?
only looking forward. o.k.?

let’s be in touch. i myspace’d you my cell number.
we’ll talk soon.

your brother in arms,
matt nathanson