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
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Asma Al-Masyabi
Asma Al-Masyabi is a free-verse poet and visual artist based in Colorado, who occasionally delves into flash fiction. She is currently pursuing her Associates in English with a concentration in creative writing. Her two biggest passions are crafting the written word and art and she wants to pursue a life-long career where she can do both. She’s dreaming big dreams, reading good books, while simultaneously baking chocolate chip cookies. When not experimenting in the kitchen, you can find her reading all the comics she can get her hands on and watching the next big hit her mom found on TV.
