for Dad...

So I wrote this poem for a few friends who help me...ah...celebrate bananas. I told Dad about it and he's been waiting patiently for me to post it. Here ya go, Pops...

Crazy for Bananas

by Gina O.

The color is the ONLY good thing abouta fruit called the banana...

The flavor, smell and even sound are repulsive; holy Hannah!

I know all about the WONDERS of the fruit in question, okay?!

Cameron printed me off a list of the joys of bananas...hooray.

I won't deny that eating them is a healthy thing--how can I?

Potasium-rich, plus vitamins...and you can put them in a pie!

I've tried at least a time or two to like this blasted fruit...

But even mixed with berries and ice, the point is completely moot.

If, by chance, this fruit is peeled within six feet of me,

My gag reflex kicks into gear and I simply have to flee!

And that's just from the smell alone; if I ponder on the sound

That the nasty fruit makes inside a mouth, my stomach flips around!

But don't you worry, don't you fret! I'm good at avoiding them!

At least I was till I moved here...my new friends are such GEMS.

You see, I'm a passionate person with my loves as well as my hates...

When I watched Jason eat on once, my emotions would not abate.

When my best friends in Idaho saw my over-reaction, though small,

They laughed and then got over it--or so I thought; what a bad call!

Before too long, little tricks and "treats" appeared on my car and such...

Jason, Nolan, Lisa too...but still it didn't happen that much.

It truly was a three-way tie between them all for a while...

Then Nolan dropped out of the race and Lisa improved her style...

I recall a time when she conned me into going to a ball game

With the promise of a treat; I still trusted her--how LAME!

Some folks say I'm gullible, but TRUSTING is what I call it...

When I showed up and she gave me a gross yellow candy, it was the pits!

Though I loathe bananas to the core, I laugh it al, ya know?

It's funny and somehow I feel loved...plus, friends are better than foes.

On and on the pranks continued; I started to expect it;

Being chased with a peeled yellow fruit...the joke has some merit...

But when I left my charming friends home and left for the UK,

I figured, "out of sight, out of mind..." I'm wrong a LOT, okay?!

When I returned to IF from my lovely holiday abroad,

My roommates were gone, nowhere to be see--their absence made me sob.

But not for long; I walked back to my room to put my things away

And discovered banana stuff in my room--all yellow, bright and gay.

"Welcome home" and "I heart Gina" were posted here and there;

Yellow streamers, plates and napkins were strewn about EVERYWHERE.

Let's not forget the variety of banana-flavored snacks...

The most depressing one of all was banana Reeses: ACK!

I felt love oozing out of every yellow surface in the room;

I was thrilled to know that I was missed--though bananas are my doom.

In defense of my hatred of this foulest food of any kind,

I find nutrition elsewhere, you know...vitamins are easy to find!

Potasium is found in extremes in the state of Idaho--

It's called a POTATO, everyone! A delightful veggie to grow.

As for fruit, I'll stick with apples, berries and Utah peaches;

All things in moderation is what the Good Book teaches.

So...thank you for expressing your love in a way that's funny...yet sick.

I love ya back; you KNOW it's true! I think you're all a kick!