Our Tomato poets take us on a  poetic journey that explores the intricacies of life, its joys, sorrows, and the beauty that resides within. Enjoy this lyrical voyage, where words dance and emotions sing, unraveling the tapestry of human existence.

Forever On Film

You went fishing through

the bottom cabinet

at just the right time.

Looking for something or another

from before 1980

you came across several

1 hour photo envelopes

a bit ripped

but intact enough

to continue to preserve

the flimsy Kodak paper inside.

There were pictures of us

so young

we both had brown hair.

You held me in the rain

in Montreal,

each wearing souvenir shop

white plastic rain ponchos for protection.

There was a full stack of pictures

of our first fall trip to the cottage.

I am captured kneeling

on the brown kitchen linoleum,

gingerly carving a maple leaf

into the backside of our pumpkin,

surrounded by the orange meat

clumped on the sprawled out pages

of the Ottawa Citizen.

It was freezing outside

and I made you drag our mattress

into the living room

so we could sleep

under the knotty pine A-frame

in front of the warm crackling fire.

My favorite photo

is a self-timed one of us

perched on the stone hearth,

every edge of us touching,

kissing deeply,

the sharp line of my jawbone

angled in new love.

~Nicole Freezer Rubens, author The Long Pause and the Short Breath

If You Don’t Have Something Nice to Say…

Words can be as dangerous as a sharp knife,

That will cut deeply into an unsuspecting life,

Choose carefully or risk hurting a friend,

That can be the beginning of a surprising end,

The repeating of gossip, not first seeming vicious,

Can be misconstrued, then, becoming suspicious,

Why was it repeated?

New thoughts added, inflated and heated,

I am, after all, just a  frail human being,

Without training or knowledge of really seeing,

Why the person is spouting the nonsense,

It’s repeating high school in the past tense,

I don’t want to spend time on this anymore,

Moving past the hurt is surely the cure,

Love and respect will in the end endure,

Not repeating ugliness is best for sure,

By the way, telling the perpetrator off is very acceptable!

And you can throw hurtful words in the nearest receptical.

~Carol Ostrow, author “Poems from My Pandemic Pen

Views in Afterthoughts

This was the first spot

Where I saw the pale stranger

Then he went away

In the light right here

I returned to the same place

Where I first met him

The water under

The distant high silver bridge

Spoke of profound loss

~ Marjorie J. Levine, author, Road Trips

Three More Mondays