Poem of the Day: “Tomatoes” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “Tomatoes” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month.  Ms. Hamilton will also be serving as the guest judge for the Songs of Eretz Poetry Award Contest, which will run from September 1 to October 15, 2015.  A detailed biography of Ms. Hamilton may be found here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2015/08/songs-of-eretz-poetry-review-poet-of.html.  The contest guidelines may be previewed here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/p/songs-of-eretz.html.

Tomatoes

Carol Hamilton

 

Those plump pendants of fruitfulness

ooze pleasure for the looking,

for the tasting in the season

soon gone. This is the season

when I make myself sick with eating,

weary with picking, peeling, canning.

They are heavy red gifts full

of promise for a future of pleasure

on another series of Dog Days

when Sirius strides high. They

drop down bright and insistent

like Fourth of July rockets.

Red shouts and blesses the plant

kingdom. I do not exactly

speak the tongue, but,

oh, how the language lilts.

Poet’s Notes:  “Tomatoes” oozes with alliteration and an overabundance of enthusiasm and noise and delight. It expresses perfectly, for me, my enthusiasm for the taste of a perfectly ripe tomato eaten right from the garden.

Editor’s Note:  Oswald the Octopus would definitely have enjoyed this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs3oQcMBAD8.  “Tomatoes” was originally published in The University of Windsor Review.