Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver

I hope you like my new column “Barb’s Wordy Blurbs”. It’s my opportunity to share short reviews of books I’ve read and support authors. Today I feature “Seesaw” (Prolific Pulse Press, 2025) by Ken Tomaro and Nolcha Fox.

I recall the seesaw, that teeter-totter on the playground. Seated on each end of the balanced plank, kids could swing up and down by taking turns pushing their feet on the ground. Likewise, In Seesaw, Ken Tomaro and Nolcha Fox alternate with their stanzas in a playful, rhythmic manner in this poetic collaboration, in which the stanza transitions provide balancing hinges. These two skilled poets swing with wacky abandon. The poems are quirky conversations about food obsessions, apathy, gravity, cats in hurricane debris, body image, ghosts in the garden, God’s screw-ups, alienation, innertubes, sun-blinding chaos, The Grim Reaper getting a makeover, and other themes balancing humor with existential struggle. As Ken Tomaro says, “Chaos IS the meaning of life.” So get ready for the quirky banter. To quote Fox, “Joy is a con artist.” These poems will trick you into smiling.

Enjoy this sample poem from Seesaw. Ken’s stanza is on the left. Nolcha’s, the right. Collaborative poetry is a conversation between two or more poets playing off each other’s stanzas until the poets decide the poem is finished.

King Cake

We received a king cake at the office the other day,
part coffee cake, part cinnamon roll,
bathed in an icing of yellow, green, and purple.
A Mardi Gras rainbow.
Inside the cake hides a small plastic baby.
And, depending on your view, either marks the arrival of the three wise men 
or symbolizes luck and prosperity.
But I have questions, as always.
How does the plastic not melt in the baking process?
How lucky can you consider yourself after biting into a plastic baby?

She was always losing things.
The eraser end of a pencil
floated in her nostril, it jiggled
when she sneezed, but she
could never find it.
Her keys were somewhere 
in that purse that she left
in the taxi.
And the baby, where
was that baby?

You can get a discount if you order from the publisher, Prolific Pulse Press (or you can order from Amazon).

https://www.prolificpulse.com/nolchafox