Canola Flowers

If you tore off the tops of canola –

yellow canola flowers – would you

jump in a tub of canola margarine

just to make the best of despair?

Do you miss those bed-bound Sundays we had?

You’d read classic American novels

and when it was Henry James you would scream

at the heroine, ‘Oh, just bend over!’

Into the acacia you go, scowl mouth.

Into the acacia with you, whatever

Jonathan Franzen novel with the girl

who chews the cuffs of her new blue blouse.

Like heartfelt, canola is a made-up word.

It brings together Canada and oil.

It’s a tub of fun you’ll be glad to call

I Can’t Believe It’s Not More Meaningful.