Mangoes

mangoes are sweetest when they are soft

when they drip through your fingers

and soak your mouth in summer

they are sunshine and swimming pools

childhood moments spent with grandparents far from home

where heat stuck humid to our hair

and warm rain burst from the sky to dance in gutters

mangoes are sweetest when they are soft

treats after chicken rice unwrapped from banana leaves

we fought for the seed when we were little 

not satisfied with fleshy cheeks we tore at its core

hands sticky and oozing 

a mangle of joy

dripping down chins and elbows

to the plastic table cloth below…

while mangoes are sweetest when they are soft

somewhere between wild abandon

and responsible adult

i began eating them carefully

the shift came quietly

the mess, my dress, the sheer inconvenience 

a bother near pristine white shirts

more important than bliss

But mangoes are still sweetest when they are soft