大象传媒

Fresh from the Islands

I remember how he would come home
with mangoes smuggled in as palusami

he would hand them over
from his unfamiliar hands.

It was better than Xmas
unwrapping those foreign oranges

from their burnt taro leaf disguises.
He showed us how to cut them

and we took them from him
like grenades

we ran to the backyard to lick the juice
from our arms

and pick the strings from our teeth.
When we came in with our pips

our mother's was untouched -
she was sick

and tired of mangoes.