Pineapple as a metaphor for life
Yes, it’s still sitting on the window ledge
Gruff, rough, browning leaves.
The Best Before Date was last Thursday.
It knows it’s a project, not a quick job
like cutting your fingernails;
this requires commitment, concentration.
While intact the pineapple mocks me:
we’re locked in a game of chicken
which will end in Tupperware or the pig bin.
This stand-off began the moment
I dropped it into my supermarket trolley.
It’s been building to this rough crux.
I know the knife to do the job.
I’ll grab the crown, throw it on the board,
chop, slice, dice to wonder at last
why there’s so little left to enjoy.
Ben Banyard lives and writes in Portishead. His debut pamphlet, Communing, was published by Indigo Dreams in February 2016 and work has appeared in Prole, The Interpreter’s House and Popshot, among others. Ben edits Clear Poetry, an online journal publishing accessible contemporary writing.
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