Banana Spots

The crackling green of early life

becomes the yellow jacket of pride

in perfect banana ripeness.

But soon shy specs of brown

rear their tiny heads,

grow confident,

mature into warrior spots

puffing out their chests,

charging into a softening yellow marsh,

rejoicing in their twilight advance.

Multiplying,

conquering,

until finally they join hands

and cover in a flaccid dusk

any lingering vestiges of ripeness.

First published by Academy of the Heart and Mind Jan. 2019