I’ve made light of the banana:
slipped up, monkeyed about,
handed it a reputation
boxed under the label “mirth”.
The smirking fruit
inviting innuendo:
banana – get one down ya!
Sunday’s news spoilt that,
boxed it food crisis serious.
Uganda, Xanthoma Wilt –
emasculating bacteria
rupturing vascular systems,
virulently rotting leaf tip to
reproductive terminal.
Trialling a Taiwanese trick
for the impotent; inserting immune
red chilli genes into the helix curve -
for the spineless yellow, a spine.
In my sterile breakfast bowl
I piece back the starchy bites,
stuff them inside its skin
stitching it whole with hope
like a huia body to its beak,
praying for genetics to fruit
a less vulnerable smile.