Poetry Thursday: Red
This week's Poetry Thursday topic is Red. I kept looking for red this week but everything seemed grey and green. The only red I could find was the lines of brick rowhouses. And no poem was coming from there this week.
Then tonight I was making marinara sauce and thinking about the movie Mostly Martha (a favorite of mine) which tells the story of a chef. It has all sorts of beautiful food scenes in it. And I just recently found the main musical theme of the movie, which I also love. So I set to writing a food inspired poem to Country by Keith Jarrett on repeat. I think the poem may be trying to go in a few too many directions, but here's my offering for this week.
Red
the tomatoes
swim out of the can--
fibrous hearts,
stringy and bloated
this is the beginning of destiny
they want to fall
in the lap
of an Italian grandmother
they want to be part
of the one true sauce
but it is only weeknight
trial and error
half-best
let’s get dinner on the table
the most ordinary fate
of tomatoes
this generosity of life
the garlic, the wine
the sticky pasta
that we wake up every morning
Then tonight I was making marinara sauce and thinking about the movie Mostly Martha (a favorite of mine) which tells the story of a chef. It has all sorts of beautiful food scenes in it. And I just recently found the main musical theme of the movie, which I also love. So I set to writing a food inspired poem to Country by Keith Jarrett on repeat. I think the poem may be trying to go in a few too many directions, but here's my offering for this week.
Red
the tomatoes
swim out of the can--
fibrous hearts,
stringy and bloated
this is the beginning of destiny
they want to fall
in the lap
of an Italian grandmother
they want to be part
of the one true sauce
but it is only weeknight
trial and error
half-best
let’s get dinner on the table
the most ordinary fate
of tomatoes
this generosity of life
the garlic, the wine
the sticky pasta
that we wake up every morning
Labels: poetry thursday
posted by Emily at 9:10 PM
24 Comments:
this is what i mean..the mundane made magnificent.
it's beautiful.
You had me at the first stanza. It's a little disturbing, and that's precisely why I like it. It's an image that really makes you stop and reread.
I love this! 'fibrous hearts stringy and bloated' - wonderful image and so true! The tomatoes in the Italian grandmother's lap - it's all so good and so colourful - despite you saying the world you looked out on seemed grey; it seems there are always tomatoes - red and perfect for a rushed meal. Perfect for a poem full of flavours and images.
Loved reading your other poems too - catching up with your work was such a treat.
tomatoes the beginning of destiny as they fall in the lap of an italian grandmother. Excellent.
I like the contrast between the generations. The fact that time has become compressed and the past stretches out in a long continuous dinner.
Well I have to say Brian pretty much said it all. I just loved the poem and the idea of tomatoes was wonderful. Yet another poem where red was used in an unconventional way. Great job.
what a great use of this prompt. my mouth is watering and i can just imagine every tomato wanting to be part of the great sauce recipe!
I love poems about food! "They want to be part of the one true sauce" is my favorite part.
Would you have considered using squiggly red worms, and then the eventual effect they would have upon these juicy red tomatoes?
Mundane stuff ends up in poetry. Great take on the prompt!
Those poor tomatoes...What a great poem, such a simple inspiration. They so are fibrous and bloated, great description.
Is poetry supposed to make you hungry? Just the good ones, I guess!
Tomorrow I'm having spaghetti swamped in sauce, all because of this.
"tomatoes swim out of the can" - Brilliant. I could imagine that so vividly.
I absolutely love "the one true sauce" it is so religious - just lvoe it. And I totally am dying over "the most ordinary fate/of tomatoes." really great.
this is very very good!
Love how you first made the tomotoes dreamers, longing for a special destiny, and how they ended up part of something everyday and ordinary. Very original.
This is delicious (literally and figuratively)! I have a penchant for humanizing wildly inappropriate things and I love seeing it done so well - those tomatoes didn't know what an honor it was to be made into your dinner.
You ended this poem so perfectly... wonderful job this week. As another poet say, great job making the "mundane" magnificent.
Hee hee- I loved reading this... "they want to fall
in the lap
of an Italian grandmother
they want to be part
of the one true sauce"
This was just so eloquent and I don't know- heart-warming, if I may...
Inspired piece of writing here, Emily!
It's already been said, but that first stanza with fibrous heart is a killer. I love the focus in this poem.
Thank you a beautiful poem. I found many layers of truth in it.
It speaks to me about my story, the fear of the mundane, the wanting to be found by a wise old women capable of turning me into the one true sauce.
Yet here I am waking up to dinner on the table every night.
But if I'm nourishing a poet, and sometimes she stops and notices me, I am sneaking into the true sauce anyway.
I've been up all night and now I am considering spaghetti for breakfast!Your personification of the tomato is brilliant. My grandmother was Italian and made all her own pasta and sauces -- tomatoes were lined up for miles to get into her kitchen!
I love that first stanza - "fibrous hearts,/ stringy and bloated." Well done.
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