No Bananas
A poem by Lex Runciman

No Bananas
From The Conversation Series

Today, I have no bananas
in my nose… And you’re declaring this, why? 
It’s a thing, a thing to be happy about.

And have you ever discovered bananas
there, in your nose, I mean? Not so far. But you

believe that one day this could be the case – only
‘not so far’? Exactly, though an exception
now occurs to me. An exception? Yes,

from my infant past, in a highchair and
having been offered part of a squishy banana…
Do you recall this particularly?

No, but it’s imaginable… small fistfuls…
that delicious… I see. Do you? Yes, unfortunately,
and we are discussing this, why – surely not

because it qualifies as or waxes poetical? No,
only something about happiness, as I recall, and

bananas … When they’re not up your nose…
That’s right. So is it safe to assume you are
therefore happy most hours and most days?

By this criteria only, it would appear so, yes.

About the Author:

Lex Runciman’s seventh collection of poems, Unlooked For, was published in 2023 by Salmon Poetry (Ireland). His work has appeared widely, including  in Ploughshares, Nimrod, Poetry East, Valparaiso Poetry Review and in Cascadia Field Guide. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

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