HAWAIIAN MARKET PLACE by John Grey

HAWAIIAN MARKET PLACE

Green onions, fried rice,

soy sauce, star fruit –

I nibble on smells

as I roam the marketplace.

One stall offers natural medicines

from the rain forest –

lavender and indigo.

I sniff myself a cure or two.

Someone unzips a banana.

Another cuts into passionfruit skin.

Seeds ride sweet yellow juice

into the salty warm.

And everywhere there’s pineapples,

ripe and sun-burst on opening.

Later there’ll be fireworks.

But, for now,

I’m checking out a lilikoi,

its bright yellow skin, tart pulp.

It tastes of Oahu, Maui, Kauai

and the big Island.

It makes me feel

sea-air brushed,

water lapped,

and miles from any neighbor.

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident. Recently published in the Tau, Studio One and Columbia Review with work upcoming in Naugatuck River Review, Examined Life Journal and Midwest Quarterly.