Banana Heart

A STB Poetry Prize Selection (2023)

When we think of the banana tree, we usually forget the flower, also known as the heart. It isn't a showy blossom; it is an odd appendage that you could miss if you were not actively seeking it. The poems in Banana Heart exemplify that which gets overlooked in the context of race, culture, and the tourist economy. Mookerjee explores the social practices of travel, sex, and survival for queer people of color living in diaspora. This collection places an emphasis on form (ranging from the abecedarian, aubade, elegy, and kyrielle to the nocturne, ode, and sestina) seizing once-colonial modes of writing and infusing them with erotic queer brown potential.