ʃ ʃ 　 　 ∩ ∩　 　 　　　　ʃ ʃ　 　 　 　　∩ ∩ 　 　 ( ᵔᴗᵔ ) ／￣￣￣〉 〉￣￣￣＼ ( ᵔᴗᵔ ) 　 　 　 　っ〈　 　 　　::〈　〈::　 　 　 　〉 ς 　 　 　 　　　＼＿＿＿〉 〉＿＿＿／ 　 　 　 　　　　ほくほく はんぶんこ

Two ʃ on each of the top two lines rise right above the gap in the middle of this picture: steam from a baked sweet potato that has just been broken in two. ʃ is the esh, the phonetic symbol for the “sh” sound. The potato fills lines 3 to 5 and is by far the biggest thing here. Its top edge is ／￣￣￣ on the left half and ￣￣￣＼ on the right, its bottom edge ＼＿＿＿ and ＿＿＿／, three ￣ and three ＿ per half: the full-width macron ￣ draws its stroke at the top of its cell and the full-width low line ＿ at the bottom, so they become the skin. On line 4, the 〈 at the far left and the 〉 at the far right are the pointed tips. The break runs 〉, 〈, 〉 from top to bottom on both halves, not a clean cut but the jagged edge you get by snapping it with your hands, and since the zigzag is the same on both sides, the halves would slot back together. Beside each broken face on line 4, two colons :: are the golden, floury inside. Holding the tips are two little rabbit-like creatures with ∩ ∩ ears, the intersection sign from set theory, and the face ( ᵔᴗᵔ ): ᵔ, the top half of a tiny o, is an eye squeezed shut in a smile, and ᴗ, the bottom half, is the grin. The faces sit on line 3, level with the top of the potato; one line down, the left one’s hand is the small Japanese っ, against the left tip, and the right one’s is ς, the Greek final sigma, beside the right tip. Line 6 reads ほくほく はんぶんこ (hokuhoku hanbunko): hokuhoku is Japanese for piping hot, fluffy and floury, the way a good roasted sweet potato crumbles as you bite, and hanbunko is a child’s word for half and half. In Japan, yaki-imo, sweet potatoes roasted slowly on hot stones, are sold from little trucks in the colder months. This is an original AA made for this site.