Bananas
June 25th - July 23rd

Ralph Pugay, Rainen Knecht, Keith Boadwee
Shelley Turley, Dan Attoe

Press Release

schwinn seat cleaves summer rash
from too soon too wet walking
after a dip just too close downstream from the paper plant
that flavor like a banana but more in the back of the nose
it’s upsetting
not that I am emotional about it
but something that had been set
is now up in the air a bit
there are blue bananas but they are only just a little bit blue
back when they were more seed than flesh
so fragile and far away
it’s getting more these days, just more
all the time

rising tides lift all boats
at least the ones in locks
this time the farthest west we can go
cliffside to the sunken city
the streets in sand from when they tried to go farther
than allowed
soon we can all be this
cliff behind drifts of sand
will they put up wire and chain link bent inward
toward foot paths
that lead out to see
the farthest west, they ever built

if it is going to be this warm out
i’ll be a banana tree, coconuts are too hard
even their fuzzy cheeks

center cannot hold, see these spots hidden in cake
powder yellow, please, before i’ve gone all soft and sweet and bold
i’m slipping too much now
the miasma refuses to swirl
it just sort of stoops, there’s no real use it won’t listen to reasoning

panama or bust. i’m sorry i mean panama and bust
commercial extinction don’t eat don’t sleep
bury my toes
become sand become tree

a coin in
crank the auger
cheshire smile tinned yellow smoke
bobs about the hopper
dives and snags
spinning till
it catches and for a brief moment
claims a victory against the dime fed jaws
until finally it is too much
it snaps and powders all over
the too small handful of mixed runts
that trace of a flavor that doesn’t really exist anymore
well at least not here, not since the cavendish
on the day to day, it’s not so bad today
it just tastes a little fake

Chase Allgood, 2022