The Exchange is the Weekly’s poetry corner that celebrates the power of the literary arts and the bridge it creates between those of all walks of life.
In each entry of The Exchange, you’ll be introduced to various pieces of writing and encouraged to create something of your own. Writers are encouraged to respond to the prompt with original work and be considered to be featured in the next issue of the Weekly. Join us every third Thursday of the month for Third Thursdays: a writing workshop and open mic in partnership with Build Coffee and Books.
What smells come to mind when thinking of a loved one? Or a location you’re immediately sent to when hearing this person’s name? We write to give honor and recognition to those who set blaze to paths many were scared to embark on. For this issue and the center of our September Third Thursday, we’re writing ode poems. Start thinking about the person, place, or thing that holds weight in your life and let the adornments flow. Here’s a piece from our feature to get us started.
Heaven
By Jalen Kobayashi
I see God on the red pleather couch
Smoking a Paul Mall short
And fondling a bag of pork rinds.
She calls Black angels from candle backs
And names prophets she met at Cermak in the coconut aisle
She got a watermelon face and an unreluctant bosom Bounce like a bassline through the house
shake her monkey til she funky
Heaven is the smell of her mop bucket
Must be holy how still she stands (when) bleach and fabuloso dance in the water
God the concoction,
short and mad as hell
She can only pray when her check hit
Cuz other days the pain won’t go away
I trust God more because I seen her
Look out the window and move winds with a grin that worn weathered face
could keep igloos warm in the storm
I miss God because I can’t see her
But isn’t that faith?
She says I’ll come back through your eyes And write my own scripture.
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Prompt
Write an ode to someone in your life that’s essential to understanding why you are the person you are today.
Feel free to write this as a poem or free-form writing. Submissions can be new or something previously written. Join us for Third Thursday on September 17, from 6:00-8:30pm, at Build Coffee and Books, where we’ll write around this prompt more in depth.
Submissions can be sent to bit.ly/ssw-exchange or via email to
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Alycia Kamil is the engagement editor for the Weekly. Jalen Kobayashi is an educator, scholar, and musician from Chicago.