Zoom Zooms ‘n’ Wham Whams
©2000 Fumilayo Bankole
We conduct ninety-nine cent store raids on
Zoom Zooms
Stuff all pockets w granola bars
N bit uh honey ’til bulged suspiciously
Yoruba-colored juju bee
Hand in pocket w
Pistachio-breath X hardcore banger
Now critic of th movies
Zoom Zooms like 2 oranges n plums
5 month old previews
That r new to us, clear
Th quick fists of television
Wham whams that sigh when twisted open
N fizzle columns up thru
Landmark darkness
Back row @ th Odeon Cineplex
Zoom zooms that sometime stick to sleeves
When we get tucked under leg over leg
That smell sweet salty caliente
Crunched while we’re
2 arms of an Afterlife shirt
In a warm soft pretzel
Still scavenging pockets for wham whams
Well into th feature
Drawing attention from
A mistress in th changing face of blue
Seated near our oasis black man black woman
Digging on zoom zooms
My tongue, a mess o’ honey that make
The actors act better
A, T-K
©2000 Fumilayo Bankole
This for all th cain’t read
Bangers gangsters
Tipsy loaders
Slash audio tactile kinesthetic learners
Whose fathers were ambrosia
They mothers tasted before
Th internal leak
Whose mamas were
Smooth stones skipped
On th surface of a poem
This for all th lazy-ass
Motha phucka
Slash audio tactile kinesthetic learners
Who feel th stage in th street
Rhyming hands to beats
Touched on females
So much one got a belly
That set him runnin’
From eye to ear to ear to eye
Blue jay in arterial red tide
Wandering th shore
Between brow n anus
This for all th x-whatever
Slash audio tactile kinesthetic learners
That got they shit togetha
Place in th Circle
©2000 Fumilayo Bankole
They can’t sit @ th circle of elders
‘Cause they too busy
Wrapping grapevine
‘Round otha hexagenarians
Can’t @ th circle
‘Cause it’s too spring reminisce
Winter elbow summer
Cup o’ Tampico hear dip for
Parabolic situations
Can’t find ’em
Just sine waves in gold
Promised of these years
W senior discounts
Tickets attached to drumsticks
Of silver birds
Too many corners to stand on
Counters to sit @
Laid up
Can’t attend these circles
That conflict w
Th stories, games, court dates
Kitchens integrated w
Grandchildren n troubled daughters
Conflicting work left in hands
N back required by four walls
Times a bunch of mouths
Plus cable
Too busy
Breaking down in th liver
N heart n blood
Can’t sit in th circle Where they make decisions
‘Cause who u calling ol’ @ fiddy
Too squarely rooted in isolation
Too busy disappointed
In th youth
[click to view introduction]