#tomatoes
The vegetable plants out back have pretty much had it.
A handful more of the hatch chiles, we think.
Four final tomatoes, red and round and gorgeous.
We ate BLTs this summer like they were going out of style,
relishing the fruits of our meager garden,
pioneers with our hands on our hips,
dirt under our nails,
shading our eyes from the sun.
We worked for these tomatoes.
Or, I did. I worked for them.
You don’t like tomatoes,
neither do I if I’m being honest.
But I tended dutifully
and dutifully, you ate.
Wow a garden tomato,
we would say.
There’s just something about it.
If I could,
I would smash this mountain of dishes with a ball peen hammer
and we would sand down the sharp edges
to line next year’s beds.
A mosaic,
we’ll tell them.
Handmade.
The possums and the raccoons will come and go
And we’ll eat sandwiches and chips
off of paper
and never look back.
Oct 9, 2025
Oct 9, 2025 at 9:35 PM UTC
Today was a sad song day
And I am alive.
I read a poem about love and tomatoes
that moved me to tears
And it’s raining now,
storming.
And I am alive.
Were I a different kind of mother,
the kind from movies,
I would wake you up so we could run outside and dance flailingly in the front yard as the neighbors peer through their slatted blinds, shaking their heads.
The storm has already slowed, though.
It always ends eventually.
The rain will bring tomatoes
and soften the grass between your tiny toes.
And I am alive.
How perfectly my aliveness fits my every me,
how much room there is in here.
If fill my aliveness to the very top, somehow it is never full,
there is always space for another swirling galaxy,
another thunderstorm
another sad song.
Tomorrow there will be tomatoes
and soft grass and tiny toes.
Today was a sad song day.
And I am alive.
Apr 30, 2025
Apr 30, 2025 at 11:52 PM UTC
Your face blush is like red tomatoes
that look almost pink; you give out this
warm kind of smile, that blankets me by surprise
beneath the second nature of your silver eyes
the words of affirmations you give me, grants
me tears, and gives me so much poetry to write
Holding time to each other in these aging hands
let’s build a blue house to hide away our blues-
bites of the sound of love to your ears pricked
behind my eyes pictured window; I can still see
through your body’s frame- with those tired eyes
that once bought into dreams, I’ll sell you the rest
Let the enhancement of those weights give a better
feeling to your life, as salt over your horizon’s shoulder,
wait, as we wait to get much older- the days must get older
for our hearts to both to feel much warmer. Those tomatoes
will still remain so red, to their well appearance- you’ve
kept me well fed.
Sep 5, 2024
Sep 5, 2024 at 12:21 PM UTC
Snow piles up against the walls, but thin clothes are all they wear
As the boy gardens within the greenhouses behind the school,
Red, bright tomatoes slipping out of his fingers, and popping into his mouth
That grins at the bursts of sweetness.
Inches from him, the man by one month pretends not to glance his way
Instead shifting through the bristling leaves to claim breakfast’s zucchini.
He would complain at the theft if the tomatoes weren’t everywhere
Making bland meals of packaged rice and canned beans a savory impossibility.
It isn’t like little indulgence will take away all of the red little briberies,
The secret keys to a reluctant community spreading its arms wide months after the pair stumbled in.
The man scowls, and the boy glances up
Not hiding his interest like his companion.
The solution to anger is always tomatoes,
So the next slip of fingers is against the man’s lips
As he bites down, the sweetness pops away mild irritation in the flavor of surprise.
Neither gives in to smiles, but their shoulders brush more than once as the tension seeps out with the heat into the snow.
Aug 11, 2019
Aug 11, 2019 at 1:18 PM UTC
man (?)
the tomatoes?
patty m.,
a grievous error thy commissioned
tomatoes are the quintessential feminine fruit
red juicy, round, curvy, sweet
with a flavor at once the same,
yet never again always different, diffident,
asized, and blonde or red, never contrived
without it,
would pizza be pizza?
without it,
would **** ***** love,
be merely a good salad
or a poem
ever be the same?
“me love tomatoes”
cookie monster
Apr 19, 2018
Apr 19, 2018 at 11:33 AM UTC
a kingdom of rotten tomatoes
they spit their seeds for the harvest of tomorrow
one over the other they topple
waiting for instructions
"i'm waiting for the day to live"
one says over the other
one over the other
a red pool of friends
everything's my favorite
in between the cumbersome vines they hear
of the escape
the hand that reaches up into nothingness and picks the chosen one
ripe for plucking, into a palm if you're lucky
a unexplained romance to be devoured
don't leave us here to fall, they cry
berry of the nightshade come closer
their potassium-deficient king
is lifted from his ill-ridden bed and fed
feast into the sweet juice of a fruit ready to die
'a milky embrace between the tomato queen and i'
Dec 28, 2018
Dec 28, 2018 at 5:20 PM UTC
the noodles are elegant, lovely and fair,
i see now there's a reason
why you're called angel hair.
buttery smooth, and golden light reflection
it's strikingly radiant
the epitome of perfection.
the sauce is as red as my cheeks
when one is deeply in love,
far higher than a mountain peak.
look, it flies in the saucepan
alluring is not a word to describe,
but truly, it's so hot, it needs a fan.
the meatballs are spheres of joy
what geometry could calculate its area?
though it ignores me, i tell it to not play coy.
how lovely the ringing sounds of sizzles,
light my ear with fireworks unheard,
oh, how my feelings are a shizzling!
oh spaghetti, my love, my joy, my life,
it's unnatural to see my tears fall on the plate.
you are my happiness, my leftover bowl of strife.
i mourn when there is none left
for breakfast in the morning,
but i dream of you when i go to bed.
Nov 15, 2018
Nov 15, 2018 at 10:31 AM UTC
Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Which fruit is the juiciest of all.
Round and oval,
With a green crown and a red mantle,
A rainbow of colours! Red,
orange, yellow,green and purple,
Big and small,
Tomatoes are juiciest of all.
The redder, the better,
More healthier.
Full of tiny seeds,
What, a delicious curry needs.
Used as veggies,
A fruit it is.
Tomatoes a day,
Keeps the risk of heart disease away.
Full of vitamins C and K,potassium and folate,
Helps against cancer like prostrate.
Pick them fresh at a go,
Have a feast on this tomato,
Barbeque chicken and chips with salad and sauce of tomatoes,
Dissipates all your woes.
Jun 22, 2018
Jun 22, 2018 at 4:03 AM UTC
I am living in a house
Made of fleshy blocks
Costlier than golds
Not because it is cost
But this man in the building
refuses to be bought
His choice of substantive intake
Rotten tomatoes or fresh tomatoes
it is the shelter of slaves
It is the guile of the law
Jun 18, 2018
Jun 18, 2018 at 3:27 AM UTC
Tasty, tempting
O' so sweet
Makes my day
Ahhhh,
Tasty tempting
O' So sweet
Every bite
So nice
Tomatoes!
Jul 25, 2017
Jul 25, 2017 at 4:47 PM UTC