International Fruit of Welcome

A pineapple is the perfect gift

to bring to a blind date.

A pineapple is like a blind date:

spiky and armored at first,

with the hope of sweetness inside.

A pineapple is the perfect housewarming gift.

You don’t have to wrap it,

it doesn’t spill inside your car.

It comes in its own house. 

A pineapple is the perfect birthday gift.

You might prefer a coconut,

that planet molten at the core,

but the pineapple has a better hairdo,

better wardrobe; it never 

goes out of style.

Think of all those historic houses

with pineapple bolsters, pineapple finials,

pineapples carved above lintels.

Such a sophisticated fruit:

every sailor wants one.