Yemen Called Me عسل (Honey)
The way sugar dances on the tongue, before it twists, too soon, into just memory.
when I say I
opened my mouth
I mean I unfolded
my jaw, tore open myself
to fit the blue pierce of sky
between the sharpness
of my teeth
Process
The seed of this final piece began when I was hosting my monthly community studio, Poetry in Motion. The topic of the studio was food poetry, and one of the prompts included food that took us back to a particular memory. I hit on a particularly potent food memory for me, which is bread topped with honey and black seeds, or bint al-sahn. The rest of the poem kind of expanded from there.
After the first draft, I edited and reformatted it a few times until I was content with how it looked and sounded. I then moved the text into Canva. I took my time choosing the perfect font before diving into formatting the text on the page. Once that was done, I had fun choosing a base color and arranging the graphics around the poem.
Episode 3 of A Fistful of Verse
If you’ve got a sweet tooth, this one’s for you! In this episode, Poetry 360 mentee Asma Al-Masyabi journeys through her honeyed memories of Eid, baking treats, and getting lost in nostalgia that seems to be from another lifetime.
Sound Credit: ZapSplat.com and Freesound.org, Woman Laugh by Kalibrk
Music Credit: Cold Brew by RA
A drink to go with this episode: Earl Grey with honey
Listen now:
Asma Al-Masyabi is a free-verse poet and visual artist based in Colorado, who occasionally delves into flash fiction. She is…
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