The Exchange is the Weekly’s poetry corner, where a poem or piece of writing is presented with a prompt. Readers are welcome to respond to the prompt with original poems, and pieces may be featured in the next issue of the Weekly.
The Function of Forehead
by Chima “Naira” Ikoro
Inspired by a workshop led by E’mon Lauren
theoretically speaking,
functionality considered,
you gotta be big.
you’ve got big responsibilities;
need the proper room to hold meetings and mediate
between my eyebrows and my edges.
hold my thoughts in place,
Steward of My Frontal Lobe/wig.
remind folks i am my fathers child,
this is where i hold his genes.
remind me of the moon, so
influential.
you drive a facial expression home,
shift skin around like the tide,
ripples remind folks i have an
attitude.
Chima Ikoro is the Weekly’s Community Builder.
Prompt
“Explain the functionality of something you see every day.”
This could be a poem, journal entry, or a stream-of-consciousness piece. Submissions could be new or formerly written pieces.
Submissions can be sent to bit.ly/ssw-exchange or via email to chima.ikoro@southsideweekly.com.
Featured below is a reader response to a previous prompt. The last poem and prompt can be found here.
Spring Commute
by Sky Patterson
Cold sheets of rain fall
as I march to my bus stop.
Walk turns into run.
A Haiku about Fall/Spring, Death/Rebirth
by Alejandro Hernandez
A lively Summer
Fades. Leaves turn golden and die,
Nourishing next spring
A Haiku About Smoking Weed in a Forest in Michigan
by Alejandro Hernandez
Green all around me
Smoke signals drift in the wind
God bless Mother Earth
Honest Haikus
by Monica Kakkar
haiku 1
spring springs memories
Lake Michigan on my mind
Tai chi with the trees
haiku 2
head, tail, cross and more
winds, I take off and … Touchdown!
The Windy City!
haiku 3
we are the people
spring of possibilities
Chicago South Side
haiku 4
my Achilles’ heel
mixed-media artistry
Chicago Deep Dish
haiku 5
few honest haiku
home-brewed blend of honest tea
here’s to Wrigley Field!
Easter Interlude (Haikus)
by Imani Joseph
Once upon a time
My nigga rose from the dead
For ghetto Mecca
Cold morning hot night
Blooms orchids n cicadas
Flip flop weather holds
Dancing bark teasing
Sprouting pollen n apples
Miss forest’s floor
Is wet from the rain
My homies drowning inside
Swamp ghost trap launches
New blaxploitation
Film featuring the city
Gurlll trickster in spring
fairy observations
by Diacos Love
No.1 the endorphin rites
let lavender’s lust
seduce fems with a rose toy
when in cherry time
No.2 his gaping hole
the most powerful
Exothermic pumping of
a holy halo
No.3 fall
thanks giving…is it
ethical? yes. like mac cheese
from an un-clean pot
No. 4 a strange teacher
you’re bald with loose leaf’d
hair that flakes on our class but
do you have purpose?
Dear Chima Ikoro,
I am delighted to revisit my haiku published in response to the prompt “write a few honest haikus.”
Thank you for your consideration. Best wishes.
Sincerely,
Monica Kakkar