like a banana split

you ate ice cream, chocolate sauce

and cherry hearts

but left the banana

you took your whip creamy love

and hid it away

in January’s cold anger—

my heart split open

like that banana

and the cherry juice

spilled into my

next month’s anguish

a banana split

is not a dish for one

not a February dish

nor is it warm

like cinnamon hearts

when the fourteenth came

I gave you the hearts

you gave me cold shoulders

and goodbyes—

like that banana split