Tomatoes Tell The Truth

No smell matches
Just after a spray
The water taken quickly
The thanks immediate

They tell the truth
This universe of tomatoes
Persisting in dry baked days
Eager to exceed the highest
Expectations
And then doing just that

So versatile, in their
Category that stands
Them
Alone

Start the day with them,
say hello
Admire
Water,
Shift their stand to
Take in the sun
as they eagerly
Couple with other delights
To bring taste, aroma and
Health, beauty
And such lush joy

It is a pattern
You may wish to follow

They tell you what in
the world is
Coming
If you listen while you water

They stand tall and
Lean with the sun, not to it

They come in many shapes
And sizes
And tastes
Yet remain one universe

If someone calls you
A sweet tomato
Feel honored

Tom Squitieri is a three-time winner of the Overseas Press Club and White House Correspondents’ Association awards for work as a war correspondent. His poetry appears in more than 30 publications, in the book “Put Into Words My Love,” in the film “Fate’s Shadow: The Whole Story” and in Color: Story 2020. He has taught writing, journalism, media studies, political systems and realities, foreign policy, and practical street knowledge at Washington & Jefferson College and American University, and writes most of his poetry while parallel parking or walking his dogs, Topsie and Batman.

Image by domdomegg, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons