ode to a banana

 

my hand holds

you as a slice of sunshine

folded skin

yellowed as honeydew

your pulp is not sulty as a plum

nor mysterious as dragon fruit

you are a yellow stripe in a strawberry field

of exotic and colorful produce

plucked & peeled

you are my comfort snack

as a well-worn shirt

i wear 

through all the 4 seasons

many will have you fried in

sugar & cinnamon 

or boiled as a steamed fish

or mixed in breakfast oats

mashed

you are home made bread

here is the tea:

i prefer you

fresh and simple as a daisy 

bringing me

easy cares as light as butter-

fly wings

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - OpenLinkNight where I am hosting.    Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it.    Thanks for your visits and comments.

Ode to a breakfast (with mangoes)

 

they dressed you in cream

heavy fluffed in butter cake

drizzled in chocolate syrup

but i love you best

freshly plucked

from tree

my hands scooping your flowering-

green-eyed by rain

skin yellowed as papaya

with plump flesh

sliced flat across the seed-

a blend of tangy sweet as jasmine & citrus

halved, quartered & diced

you bring the sun's warm

belly within you

here's my young legs racing towards

the smell of unsweetened chocolate brew,

the steam of rolled sticky rice

mellowed in coconut milk

with a dash of salt

wrapped 

in slender palm leaves,

with ripe mangoes

my mornings are gifts from tropical land

source

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Bon Appetit Poetry with guest Misky.  Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.

Ode to an avocado

dressed with lemon,
garlic, olive oil & mustard-
a chef's delight

but i like you best
bare
sliced open under rough snake
skin
velvet ripe & creamy
belly

drizzled with sugar
& cold milk,
bowled dessert
of indolent summer days

plump smooth,
slivers of ambrosia      
your taste is only rivaled
by my other childhood memory-

cloistered nuns
making candied purple yams
stirring over
& over
flaming giant pan until
rough fibers turn sin-
fully lush
as nectar oil
decadent food 
for gods  
hand-bottled for sale in market -

pear-shaped
your green womb
wraps me tight like seed
coconut-shaped
pining for tropical sun-
   

Posted for D'verse Poets Pub - An oldie but good poem for today's Poetics by guest host, Lisa Fox (Jade Li).   Join us for a food-inspired prompt at 3pm EST.

Picture credit:   here

Scents of childhood

Sap of sugar cane
Freshly cut, sun-warm

White coated cookies
crunchy with each bite

Rice cakes stirred brown with
molasses, sticky treat

Purple yam, yoked with milk
drizzled with young coconut

Goat cheese on fresh buns,
fried bananas on bamboo stick

Guavas and star apples,
cooling the afternoon heat

But always, smell of sugar
piping tropical air

Brings me back, running small
under banana trees

Napoleones

Posted for D'verse Poets Pub - Empire of Scents -  This is our last Poetics before we take our summer break from July 1-17, 2016.    
See you all when the pub opens again on July 18!!  Thanks for the visit.

Ode to ice-cream

Each scoop of you
is cream
lavished on bowl
puffy
as sugar castles
luscious
as thick maple syrup

I would barter
every candy
every nutty bar
so I can
swim
in your flavors
get lost
in your exploding
symphony of colors &
fruits

Here's the sun
melting you
soft as caramel  
sticky
no tissue can easily
wipe away
summer or not,
with pie, waffle or plain cone
let your milky
sheen 
cake
& darken
my lips
cool
sated 

as white swan
ribbed by blue-hushed lake 



Posted for D'verse Poets Pub - OpenLinkNight hosted by Mary- Another food poem, smiles ~ Thanks for the visit ~

Voracious

kill the palate of old habits:
fresh soup, chicken, vegetables & fruits 

scorn the fingers & hands
of crushing garlic, chopping spices & herbs

until we get used to dry chemicals 
& pills & frozen dinner rolls & thirsty

equates to sugar pop rush, not fresh water-
saturate the pan with salt & MSG until  

bellies widen with forgetting
grandma's recipes & bones turn delicate

with milk & cheese sealed in plastics-
slow & wait & reap becomes outdated for fast-

food, and on some days we're looking  
for flesh, juice, pit & seeds

ironically it will be packaged

more expensive in glossier paper & labels

someday we will be very hungry 
& not even food can fill it -

Judith Klausner via Colossal Blog

Posted for D'verse Poets Pub - OpenLinkNight - Thanks for the visit ~

While eating thai food & memories

Thai Beef Satay @ Grace

her body is stooped spoon, heavy from
     deaths of husband, parents, two siblings
     dealing with autistic child now a young adult
               with violent behavioral challenges

but her eyes are clear as river
     detailing childhood toys, books, garden, games   
     snippets of conversations with cousins, names 
               & dates & years traversed like a bridge 

prayers, i keep on praying, she says
     as we look at her 1 album, covered neat & shiny,   
     i have many more pictures, she adds, 
              but its all buried in mess   

except stories of growing up in grandma's house, 
     now long gone: stones, trees, landscape of houses-  
     & as i eat my thai noodles & satay, i wonder 
             what memories my children will keep 

Posted for Poets United -  Spent Saturday afternoon in Toronto City, meeting up with hubby's cousins ~ Thanks for the visit ~