April is National Poetry Month, so in anticipation of this, here is a short compilation of the best poems about our favorite spud–the humble yam. 

O Yam! my Yam! 

By Reginald Thumbington III

(Inspired by an excerpt of “O Captain! My Captain!”)

(With apologies to Walt Whitman)

O Yam! my Yam! The fearful deed is done
My mother's peeled your every skin, the life you had is gone,
The end is near, my sobs I hear, the rinds all descending
While follow eyes the garbage can, the tin dark and glaring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O on my knees I plead!
Where in the kitchen my Yam lies,
Fallen cold and dead. 

“Yam” is the Thing with Tubers

By Reginald Thumbington III

(Inspired by an Excerpt from “”Hope” is the Thing with Feathers”)

(With apologies to Emily Dickinson)

"Yam" is the thing with tubers-
That blossoms in the soul-
And grows the way that all Yams grow-
And never stops- at all

The Yams

By Reginald Thumbington III and his sister Palmnelope Thumbington

(Inspired by an excerpt from “The Bells”)

(With apologies to Edgar Allan Poe)

See the gardeners with their yams--
        Purple yams!
What a feast of yumminess is found in their jams!
        How they bounce, bounce, bounce
                In the sunny rays of dawn!
        As the veggies fall and flounce, 
        All the growers’ hands will pounce
                To save their precious lawn;
        And they catch, catch, catch,
        In a sort of fighting match,
To the yamyamabulation that so rhythmically slams
        From the yams, yams, yams, yams,
               Yams, yams, yams--
From the falling and the calling of the yams. 

Stopping by Stores On a Cloudy Evening

By Reginald Thumbington III and his sister Wristina Thumbington

(Inspired by an excerpt from “Stopping by Woods On a Snowy Evening”)

(With apologies to Robert Frost)

Whose yams these are I think I know
The market's almost closing though
They will not see me stopping here 
I'll take these yams, and then I'll go
My stupid friends must think it queer
To stop without my wallet near
Between the streets and dim-lit park
The latest purchase of the year

This is Just to Say 

By Reginald Thumbington III

(Inspired by “This is Just to Say”)

(With apologies to William Carlos Williams)

I have taken 
the yams 
that were in 
the cupboard 

and which 
you were probably 
saving 
for dinner

Forgive me 
they are the mascot
of Yampage 
and so fine