Tantra Zawadi | Thirteen Yellow Haiku

Yellow Haiku

1.
Honeys, you look good
Brown and full in the middle
Sunflower faces

2.
Yellow taffeta
Dancing ’round and ’round
Twirling in its breadth

3.
Golden light through slat
Welcomes a new day!  I pray
For peace in this one . . .

4.
Buzzing ’round my bed
Because he thinks I’m honey — 
I’m just a stinger

5.
A promise of love
Naturally magical
Canary haiku

6.
When you look at me
The sun sings a vibrant tune
So hot, yet so cool

7.
Fresh corn on the cob
You, me, and hot barbecue
Lying on the grass

8.
Lemony sunrise
Streaming through my window pane
First hint of morning

9.
Gold on my finger
Spinning together with you
I do and I am

10.
Buttery patter
A song for my beating heart
I love you right there

11.
Turmeric and spice
Swirling in my deepest pot
I need this season

12.
Grits, cooked down gently
Salted, buttered, and well loved
Mom in the morning

13.
Graduation day
We were beautiful chaos
Giggling in straw hats

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Tantra-zawadi, Brooklyn-born performance poet and international recording artist, is a 2020 Brooklyn Arts Fund grantee!
She is the author of three books of poetry, alifepoeminprogress (Chuma Spirit Books), Gathered at Her Sky, and Bubbles: One Conscious Breath (Poets Wear Prada). A passionate educator and instigator, she has collaborated with The Senegal-America Project, Betti Makoni’s Girl Child Network Worldwide, and Black Art in America. To learn more, or to hear her latest house music releases, please visit: https://www.traxsource.com/artist/29323/tantra-zawadi or http://tantrazawadi.com/.

Thomas Fucaloro | Two Poems

The Meaning of Corn

Little cartoon yellow bullets
pulled from cobbed gums
glisten with spit and
delicious. Filled to the ear.

No one comes close
to our consumption. Filled
to the beer, we are a nation
defined by what we grow.

8 interesting facts about corn
and none of them are this
poem.


First published in Eratio.


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600 Ways To Give People The Shaft

we wore yellow
to each other’s farewell
although the band played
while the dead danced
we morphed
into an unknown
knowing we would


The titles of these poems come from the George Carlin’s list poem “Join the Book Club,” the ninth track of his album A Place for My Stuff, recorded and released in 1981, from Atlantic Records.


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The winner of a performance grant from the Staten Island Council of the Arts and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Thomas Fucaloro has been on six national slam teams. He holds an MFA in creative writing from the New School and is a co-founding editor of Great Weather for Media and NYSAI press. He is an adjunct professor at Wagner College and BMCC, where he teaches world lit and advanced creative writing.