Room II · Works on Paper
The Haiku
Seventeen syllables. Infinite napkins. Every poem here was written in the minutes between ordering and eating, which is the only time anyone has ever been this sincere about lunch.
Ten works, one appetite
No. 01
Tahini descends,
a slow white river of grace,
onto my good shirt.
Descent
No. 02
Wrapped in warm laffa,
everything I have ever
wanted, and some fries.
Still Life with Laffa
No. 03
Amba, yellow storm,
you promised me you would stay.
Now you are my sleeve.
Amba, Departing
No. 04
The first bite is prayer,
the second, a sigh of joy,
the third bite, a flood.
Three Movements
No. 05
Green schug on my lip.
My eyes are weeping, and yet
I reach for the jar.
Green Study
No. 06
The pickle escapes,
rolling across the counter.
I let it go. Free.
The Escape
No. 07 · Featured Work
Hold it with both hands,
like a relic, like a child.
It will betray you.
Study of Hands
Pita, sauce, grip, inevitability. 2026.
No. 08
Ten napkins, all spent,
white clouds on a sea of sauce.
It was worth the stain.
Study in White
No. 09
Paper wrapper, torn,
an empty frame in the bin.
The art was eaten.
Aftermath
Room IV · The Haiku Machine
Want one of your own?
Choose up to three ingredients and the machine will compose an original haiku around them, framed and numbered. No two commissions are alike.
No. 10 · Doctrine
When in doubt, shwarma.
When not in doubt, still shwarma.
There is no doubt here.
The collection's only position.
Continue to Room III