PINEAPPLE




  1. With yayama
  2. fruit of the Antilles
  3. we welcomed you
  4. to our shores,
  5. not knowing in
  6. your language
  7. "house warming"
  8. meant "to take
  9. possession of"
  10. and "host"
  11. could so easily
  12. turn hostage.


  13. Oblivious
  14. of irony,
  15. you now claim
  16. our symbol
  17. of hospitality
  18. as your own,
  19. never suspecting
  20. the retribution
  21. incarnate
  22. in that sweet
  23. flesh.


  24. So you
  25. plant pineapples
  26. arrayed in fields
  27. like battalions
  28. not knowing
  29. each headdress
  30. of spikes
  31. is slanted
  32. to harness
  33. the sun's
  34. explosions


  35. and store them
  36. within
  37. the fruit's
  38. thick skin
  39. on which
  40. - unless
  41. you can peel
  42. them off quick -
  43. pineal eyes
  44. watch and
  45. wait,
  46. counting down.