The Last Banana
It was a Thursday
A normal middle of the month day
I got to the office early
As I often do
Walked in the rain
A block here
A block there
And one more block again
Said hello to the security guard outside
Said hello to the desk guards inside
Said hello to the elevator guard inside
I swiped my badge
I held my badge
I went up 8 floors in a box
I swiped my badge
I changed my shirt
I got my coffee
I got my water
I got my oatmeal
My favorite colleague arrived
I noticed a banana on her desk
And noticed a banana on my real favorite colleague’s desk
I wondered
“Where oh where was my banana?”
But in reality, my thought was more like
“Where was my banana?
And so, without hesitation
I got up from my desk
I made sure to follow the rules
I put on my jacket - my sport jacket - my blazer - the fabric cloak that goes over my T-shirt and makes me very very very hot and ran to the kitchen. I didn’t really run. I walked normal speed.
And there
In my sightline
Was
The last banana.
© 2026 David Greg Harth
26.03.12.09.43.25@345NYC
Kamikaze
Ain’t no better time to pull the trigger
There is no better time
Than now
Barrel to my temple
Barrel in my mouth
No hidden secrets
No final goodbyes
No haunting regrets
Nothing worth saying
Nothing worth saving
Just destructing my purpose
Dreaming of a better moment
Death would silence my pain
© 2026 David Greg Harth
26.03.07.22.37.52@130BklynNYC
Five One Five
Five to One
One to Five
Ten to Five
Five to Ten
Five Fives
Fifty Ones
Two Fifties
Fifty Twos
Two Fives
One Five
One Fifty
Fifty-Two Twos
Fifty-Two Ones
Fifty-Two Fives
Two Hundreds
Five Hundreds
Fifty Hundreds
Hundred Hundreds
I’m rich!
© 2026 David Greg Harth
26.03.03.08.45.56@345NYC
The Glowing Light
I’ve been battered
Completely shattered into splinters
Beaten down to a pulp
Abandoned in the back of a junkyard
Swallowed in the ocean’s abyss
Neglected and forgotten
Broken
Left to rot
Discarded beneath the dirt
I’ve been in padded rooms
And fought off medical experiments
Dodged psychiatrists' false presumptions
I’ve been image enhanced
And held hands with the devil
Raged with a brain in zero gravity
Through all the pain I’ve suffered
I somehow endured
Without reason
Without encouragement
Without recognition
I survived
And so glad I did
Because if it wasn’t for you
I’d end
The love you gave me –
Unconditional
Non-transactional
Unrestricted
Compassionate and passionate
Fierce and tender
The love I have for you –
It was imminent
Without fear
My most sincere truth
You lit the glowing light
Inside my heart
That refuses to go dark
You make all the reasons to be alive
to stay alive
You are the reason
I choose morning
Again, and again
© 2026 David Greg Harth
26.02.26.22.30.04@130BklynNYC
At Yesterday’s Turn
Turned the wrong way
Yesterday
Turned the wrong way
Should have made a right when I made a left
Should have made a left when I made a right
Made a wrong turn
Yesterday
Today
Thought about that wrong turn yesterday
That made me go the wrong way
Have you ever made such a turn?
Today? Or yesterday?
A turn the wrong way?
© 2026 David Greg Harth
26.02.11.15.40.31@345NYC
Craftsmanship
Monday mornings are often dull
They often greet you unfavorably
Reminders of last week’s long week
The start of the week
A void you can’t avoid
But some Monday mornings are the most delightful
Like when you sit down at your desk
And you place your devices in all their coordinated assigned spots
And you place your water and tea (or coffee) in their appropriate areas
And you place your self in the uncomfortable Monday chair
And you are about to begin your day
When you suddenly realize you’ve been bedazzled.
As much as I felt such love
And complete utter joy
Inside and out
I have to say
And I say this with constructive criticism
I am a bit disappointed
By the craftsmanship
I noticed a small portion of the bedazzled line
of bedazzlement
is coming off their
bedazzled place.
And that makes me sad inside
But no fear
My enjoyment that the children only bedazzled my fan
Makes me at ease
Because I now know
That the children knew
I’d be only happy with the bedazzlement of my fan
And that
Makes me so
Very
Happy
© 2026 David Greg Harth
26.02.09.09.10.24@345NYC
Finger on the Pulse
She was on the floor
Choking with a piece of meat lodged in her throat
She was a guest at the wedding
Dying
Put a finger on her neck
Her pulse is slowly disappearing
Better to make a sudden ad-hoc tracheostomy
Before she dies
On the wedding dance floor
Ambulance sirens blare in the distance
Attempting to speed on the winding roads
Flashing lights
Dinner abruptly stopped
No party
No happiness
Tainted marriage
By meat death
© 2026 David Greg Harth
26.02.06.15.00.20@130BklynNYC
Replacement
Together for a handful of years
Held hands on Brooklyn streets
Your winter nose was cold
From head to little toes
In the dark theatre
At the art museum
The sculpture park
Concert hall
And the philharmonic
We took in high culture
Subways
Taxi cabs home late at night
That special day with a limousine
Holidays
Greeting in the new year
Home cooked deliciousness
Together
We’d share our death dreams
You shared your desire to take the bridge leap
Traced your contours with my tongue
Walked my fingers down
Abundance of love
A surplus
Too much given
Reflecting, not received
Not enough for you
Tall, rich, fit
Not a man of violins
I never knew
I could be so easily replaced
© 2026 David Greg Harth
26.02.05.20.25.00@NYC
Ten Minutes to Ten
Ten to Ten
That’s all it took
10 more minutes
After 10 months
After 10 years
Just 10 more minutes
Moments on a clock
Counting down just ten more
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
© 2026 David Greg Harth
26.02.05.16.58.26@345ParkNYC
Berlin Hauptbahnhof
A forgotten knock at the door
A denied entry as the result of past trauma
A film orchestrated a murder
A Muslim woman and a Jewish Man
They fell in love in New York
They held hands as they lay in bed
They could not acknowledge the silence they both serve
They could not commit to the fray
Surrendering to realism
Getting caught in the prison of love
Gutting one’s own internal clairvoyance
Labeling each other terrorists
A caffeine infused chocolate platter
A Moroccan cat flirting at the table
A vinyl record skipping in the summer heat
A return to the scene of the crime
They fell in love in Berlin
They drenched the sheets with their sweat
They erased their memories
They committed to the moment
Surrendering to idealism
Getting caught in international waters
Gutting the commanding womb
Labeling each other mother and father
A man and a woman
They fell in love
© 2026 David Greg Harth
26.02.04.12.26.49@345ParkNYC
Unidentified Insects in Your Ear
Insects
Coming through the pipes
Breaking through your window screens
Forcing you to lower your defenses
Insects
Borrowing your time
Taking up your space
Making your bed with spotted sheets
Insects
Coming from other lands
Traveling on planes and trains
Entering through tiny holes
Insects
Falling from the sky
Hatching from the bark
Digging from the dirt
Insects
Migrating from all directions
Floating to the surface of the pond
Sprouting from the darkest places
Insects
Riding the pollen in the wind
Hiding under candy wrappers
Attached to the wooden picnic table
Insects
Begging for revolution
Forming a brigade
Amassing at the borders
Insects
Dancing
Tickling
Sucking
Burrowing
Buzzing
Biting
In your ear
© 2026 David Greg Harth
26.02.03.14.48.35@345ParkNYC
The Man Missing One Hand
As I was exiting
The man missing one hand was attempting to enter
His left hand was on the handle of the door
He had no keys
His right hand was missing
I pulled the door handle down
And let the man missing one hand to enter the building
He entered the building
And I exited the building
That was the last I saw of the man missing one hand
© 2026 David Greg Harth
26.02.03.12.31.21@345ParkNYC
Heart Attack
Left a message at the beep
Had a heart attack
Better call me back
Shades pulled down closed
Tight sheets on the bed
Temporarily full of lead
Gurney covered in my horror
Plead for mercy
Flatlined controversy
Lost blood to the chambers
Had to halt every action
For a heart extraction
Sounds of the heart monitor
Going lub-dub lub-dub
Now part of the zipper club
© 2026 David Greg Harth
26.02.03.09.50.00@345ParkNYC
The Sea
The sea is swollen
With choices
Of the unborn future
And the haunting past
The sea is full
With decisions
Of the unknown tomorrows
And the fear of history
The sea is
Violent
And unforgiving
Turbulent sways topple the indestructible
With towering waves overturning ships
Crashing and pounding upon deserted shores
Swirling emotions into the void
Carving destructive paths
Refuses to yield
Breaking the nerves of the most honest men
Tormenting the grieving
Raging without pause
A graveyard of the lost
Letting anger swallow all the living
Adds salt to your wounds
A treacherous pull to the deepest bottom
Savage with no end
Brutal without heart
To speak ill of the sea is to commit treason
Despite all the relentless hostility to my existence
Tossed in the sea
Is where I’d rather be
© 2026 David Greg Harth
26.02.03.08.11.22@345ParkNYC
The King
The day the king dies
There will be a celebration like no other
The greatest celebration
Some may even say the biggest celebration
There will be jubilation like no other
The greatest jubilation
Some may even say the biggest jubilation
There will be cake like no other
The greatest cake
Some may even say the biggest cake
There will be fireworks like no other
The greatest fireworks
Some may even say the biggest fireworks
There will be feasts like no other
The greatest feasts
Some may even say the biggest feasts
There will be parties like no other
The greatest parties
Some may even say the biggest parties
There will be festivals like no other
The greatest festivals
Some may even say the biggest festivals
There will be dancing in the streets like no other
The greatest dancing in the streets
Some may even say the biggest dancing in the streets
There will be parades like no other
The greatest parades
Some may even say the biggest parades
There will be applause like no other
The greatest applause
Some may even say the biggest applause
There will be laughter like no other
The greatest laughter
Some may even say the biggest laughter
There will be screams of joy like no other
The greatest screams of joy
Some may even say the biggest screams of joy
Thank you for your attention to this matter!
© 2026 David Greg Harth
26.01.29.11.15.43@345ParkNYC
Vanishing Thief
Under immense pressure
Required surrender to such grand pleasure
Cataclysms spinning around
Hands and feet shackled and bound
Forces unbeknownst to any reality
Enter my room and bend over my knee
Existence in question
Booked a midnight fuck session
Telecommunications interrupting
Evil aliens abducting
Everyone swipes their credit into bankruptcy
Bring out the clown cavalry
From sky satellites falling
Creatures of night crawling
Politicians vomiting a greasy lie
Fighter jets do or die
Televisions exploding in our living room
Welcoming our existence to last doom
Genetic harassing molecules
Below the belt jewels
Violently pursuing our blood
Forty-day and forty-night flood
Micro plastics rollercoaster veins
Never can break from the day job chains
Drifting in and out of magnetic waves
Dancing at midnight on top of graves
Polymers and digesting bleach
Listening to the pastor preach
Everything released in hi-fi stereo
From trans queens to yesterday’s hoe
Lightning rounds
No kings, no crowns
Multi-travel pass
Motorcade to midnight mass
Running the yearly marathon
Drowning from dusk to dawn
Trajectory launched to outer space
She sat on my face at last night’s grace
Big brown paper bag suffocation
Parallel and perpendicular streets negotiation
Riverbed swans
Time to visit all the cons
Open all the solitary confinement cells
Ring the high church bells
Chariot on fire with an iron horse
Orbiting at hypersonic G-force
Embracing the dying planet
Below the world’s greatest island of granite
© 2026 David Greg Harth
26.01.29.10.48.56@345ParkNYC
Interstate 287
Felt like yesterday
We were just young kids
Swinging in the shade of the oak
We forged a great friendship through the years
Walked along the evening railroad tracks
With our fingers crossed
Placed our ears on the rails
Listened for a tremble
Felt for a vibration
Interstate 287 was beneath the overpass
Cars and semi-trucks swooshing
I extended my hand to yours
We kissed for the first time
As a teen, I would have exclaimed
The earth took a pause on its axis
My heart sank in happy disbelief
You felt for me like I felt for you
All it took was a commitment like no other
We had to pursue our own volition
Take our unlocked hearts to the swooshing of I-287
Or the freight train barreling down upon us
© 2026 David Greg Harth
26.01.28.15.03.36@345ParkNYC
Empty
Empty the casket
Fill the tank with gasoline
Empty promises
With no more agreements
Children are out of the house now
I am left with an empty nest
Went around back
Emptied the trash
My stomach growls to be fed
It is empty
A dead man said
I came home late
To an empty house
With an empty bag
And found on my porch
An empty box
To place on my empty bed
© 2026 David Greg Harth
26.01.28.13.06.20@345ParkNYC
Setting Sun
Sitting at the red traffic light
Waiting for the light to change
I was going to turn left
The clicking of my turn signal
Click Clack Click Clack
My hands on the steering wheel
Tapping to the rhythm of the
Click Clack Click Clack
In my rearview mirror
I see the sun setting
Gorgeous hues of
orange, red, yellow, and purple
Like flames, flowers, or fireworks
It was hard to drive away
Knowing I’ll never see her again
But I was
Sitting at the red traffic light
Waiting for the light to change
I was going to turn left
The clicking of my turn signal
Click Clack Click Clack
My hands on the steering wheel
Tapping to the rhythm of the
Click Clack Click Clack
Click Clack Click Clack
I had a heart attack
© 2026 David Greg Harth
26.01.28.10.53.49@345ParkNYC
Feathers
In my blind effort
I had sewn the crow’s feathers
To my own shoulder blades
I admit
My idea was ill conceived
But I had to fly to the top of the mountain
To see you one more time
Instead, in my leap of faith
I fell to the ground
And the coroner announced my death
© 2026 David Greg Harth
26.01.28.10.45.45@345ParkNYC