Another Reason My 

Mother-in-law Doesn't Like Me

My refrigerator --

a botanist’s delight!

Have you ever seen such a crop

of blue velvet fungi?

And what of this casserole sprouting brown fur?

Any day now, my lettuce

in its airtight coffin

will become a clump of

slimy-sick seaweed.

Perhaps some salt would help?

The fruits are something else!

Some, like this apple, simply

grow old

collapsing on the inside

leaving a small brown globe

to depict death’s terrain

in relief.

With the banana

death leaves a shadow.

It begins as a small brown rash

gently caressing the fruit

until the banana is swallowed in darkness.

Bananas die a quiet death --

and then scream at me

from the top of

my refrigerator.

                         Cheryl Pahz