As we head into Memorial Day Weekend and the feasting that often involves, consider this latest group of poems as your appetizer. Written by staff members of the Los Angeles Public Library as part of May’s poetry challenge, they are sure to get your creative and digestive juices flowing! Join us in our celebration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month by posting your own food haiku to our Instagram account, and don’t forget to check back here for our next batch of poems on Tanka Tuesday!
Inari sushi
Sweet, deep fried, tofu pocket
Sour fishless rice. Yum.
—Anonymous
Scrounging for scarce flour
Makes stone ground whole wheat pancakes
Taste even better!
—Robert Anderson
It’s miraculous!
How they get the soup in that
dumpling?! Xiao Long Bao.
—Susan F.
A hot fudge sundae
Several gooey mouthfuls
Comfort on a spoon
—Donna Atmur
Watermelon Iced
Is nice to eat on the fly
Refreshingly cool
—Esther Barrera
A tropical treat,
Evaporated milk and
Crushed ice with Toppings!
—Jenny Taguines Cotejar
Pizza, life - the same
A diversity of styles
Find and eat your bliss
—Aric Wu
My baked potato
Your fine brown skin is ALL mine
Your Flesh makes me swoon!
—Lucky Duran
Frigid little grape
Just slips between my fingers
Left frozen too long.
—Anonymous
Flaky pastry - yum!
Blueberries, lemon...buttered
layers topped with glaze.
—Luis Castaneda
Sunny side up eggs
Building luscious, viscous yolk
Oozing in my mouth
—Hillary St. G.
Rockyroad is my
favorite chocolatey
ice cream of all time
—Connie M.
A peek of orange…
Fragrant, juicy, ripe...ready
Waiting to be picked
—Shirley Ly
Enhanced photo illustrations courtesy of Aldrich Linton. Images are culled from Wikimedia Commons unless otherwise noted.