Calypso Hearts
with calypso hearts
that carried this bunch
through the magical sounds
of the tropical night
down to the shore
and onto the banana boats
all the while
were they singing
moving rhythmically
thinking about the freedom of morning
thinking
“daylight come and me wan’ go home”
and me wondering here
here in my favorite market
midst the wonderful aromas
surrounded by this bounty
shoppers scurrying about
me with my small shopping cart
black wooden cane
dangling from the handle
eyeing three semi-ripe ones
is that how these got here
a little green
like my wife Kathy favors
so home they will go
then up onto the “nanner-hanger”
above the counter
in the kitchen
and she will eat one
maybe just a half
the other half on cereal
maybe saved until later
and one while gardening
for that 3 o’clock lull
wonder if those calypso-hearted souls
dealt with a 3:00 AM lull
wonder if they had the luxury of time
while loading that boat
to even consider a lull
wonder if they are
anymore
those calypso-hearted
sun-stained souls
but once they were
who toted those banana bunches
“lift six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch”
and they sang
“day, me say day, me say day, me say day-ay-ay-o”
and they worked
“stack banana ’til de mornin’ come”
when they longed to go home
yes
they lived
and they loved
and they’re gone
so I thank them
I remeber them
and their calypso hearts
now I just wanna remember
to get what’s on the list
list says get bananas
I get bananas
then me just wan’go home
rob kistner © 2019
Hi! I’m Edgrrr, rob’s shih tzu.
Wow! I love the connection between the past and the speaker’s life in this poem. The song lyrics help the poem to be moving and memorable.
Thank you RW, glad you enjoyed this. 🙂
I like the way you wove your poetry and the banana boat song together. The end is priceless.
Thank you Jade. I was almost heading toward a moral statement, then the power of the simple ending made so much sense to me. I am glad it worked for you.
You are welcome. I need to start remembering to come back here to read your responses to the comments.
I remember that song. You forgot to mention the spiders and the scorpions in those regimes of bananas. Gives me the shivers thinking about it.
I love the way you slide the lyrics into the poem, like an echo.
“Hide the deadly black tarantula“ … Creepy crawlies for, but not deadly. Hard night work in more ways than one Jane. Glad you like the interlacing.
I like how you combine the past and the present. That’s the way thoughts go.
Thanks Kerfe. I had a couple false starts on this prompt. I started yo moralize, then stopped. I was infact tracking the flow on my thoughts as I tried to find an entry point for the poem. Instead, I just wrote essentially the random flow of my thiughts.
The songtrack of banana musings, this is really beautiful. And I think you make the moral statement by the prosaic ending, much more effective than an overt one. Opening the well-known lyrics to their deeper meanings while buying and using the fruit we take so for granted. Did I mention that I love this? *singing day-o*
Thank you very much Victoria! I am glad this worked for you… “day-0” ! 🙂
LOVE this combined take on the prompt and that ole Calypso song!
Thank you Lillian… 🙂
Rob, how clever! I love this with the intermingling of song words!
Thank you Linda. That song started looping through the back of my mind, I think because I watched the Tony’s on the weekend, and the cast from “Beetlejuice – the Musical” had performed it on the show. So I thought, what the hell – go with it! 🙂
I think somewhere it’s a good thing to remember all the people involved in picking those bananas
This is wonderful! I shall think of this the next time I buy bananas, which is soon. Another song from my childhood was ‘Bananas, what a crazy fruit”!
a lovely tribute Rob to where our fruit really comes from, of the slavery to deliver us that perfectly grown banana just right for my cereal!
Although harvesting bananas still involves a lot of human hands on Kate, they are now grown on high yeild farms, that big corporations such as Dole maintain, and the bunches are assisted on their way to the store by elements of automation. Not much carrying bunches out of the jungles, down to the boats, as there was back when. Most the packing occurs in plants built right on the banana farms.
Love the music of this, the calypso hearts, and your perfect ending! My husband favors slightly green bananas too.
Thank you Lynn! I am not a big green banana fan…
Hi, I read this last night but, it was late so I came back to read this again. I truly enjoy your style of writing. You make it fun yet thought provoking. I wonder about those workers who haul those banana’s to the boats that are shipped to our markets. Very creative!
I am looping the song as I write this note.
I try to mix poetry, thinking, music, and fun in this one True!
I enjoyed your calypso poem, Rob.
Thank you Kim… Day-O!
Ah, you poem added an extra dimension to the song? Or is the other way around? In any case, I hear the beat and see the men doing their work in time with the song’s beat.
I love everything about this poem, the music, the market, the wondering and asking questions, the memories, and especially the last few lines. 🙂
Thank you Crystal, and I’m pleased the ending resonated for you! 🙂
This is outstanding, Rob. Background on how our produce got here, and that wonderful calypso music!
Thank you Sara… 🙂