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Tomato, Tomahto

Season’s greetings, friends. My poetry offering today is “In my next life let me be a tomato,” by Natasha Rao. It’s from her book Latitude (2021), and you can read the poem at the publisher Copper Canyon Press’s website. [Edited to add: here is a better link for the poem, at the Poetry Foundation. Thanks, Mary Lee!] The title is the teaser! I love this one, and it makes me want to cry.

I’m so glad to see that one of my favorite libraries has the book. I don’t live in Greenwich Connecticut, but its library has a terrific poetry collection. A print collection, no less!

The Poetry Friday roundup for July 10th is at Bookseedstudio.

Photo by ST.

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12 responses to “Tomato, Tomahto”

  1. Tabatha Avatar
    Tabatha

    It’s a beaut!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Susan.Thomsen Avatar
      Susan.Thomsen

      It is! Thanks for stopping by, Tabatha.

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  2. lindabaie Avatar
    lindabaie

    Both funny & poignant! Thanks!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Susan.Thomsen Avatar
      Susan.Thomsen

      De nada! I want to hug that speaker’s neck and say, oh, honey, you ARE the tomato.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  3. maryleehahn Avatar
    maryleehahn

    I couldn’t get to the poem via your link or straight from the Copper Canyon Press website, but luckily, it’s on the Poetry Foundation website:

    https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/160707/in-my-next-life-let-me-be-a-tomato

    I nominate John Denver’s song “Homegrown Tomatoes” to go with this poem, and I’d like a helping off that sheet pan, please! (And I won’t look at my two lowly cherry tomato plants the same ever again!)

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Susan.Thomsen Avatar
      Susan.Thomsen

      Oh, I need to go listen to that right now! I updated the post with the better link. Thank you, Mary Lee.

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  4. margaretsmn Avatar
    margaretsmn

    ”the tomatoes have no fear of wind and water,

    they gain power from the lightning, while I, in this version

    of life, retreat in bed to wither.”

    I love the lustfulness of this poem, the longing to be wild and audacious, like a tomato vine. I think of the live oaks that stand in all storms and gain power from the lightning. Thanks for the inspiration.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Susan.Thomsen Avatar
      Susan.Thomsen

      Margaret, yes, the live oaks. I’d love to see what you’d do with that idea in a poem! I do miss them. We always had live oaks in our yards in Jackson.

      Liked by 1 person

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  5. patriciafranz Avatar
    patriciafranz

    Wow — to live so wild, so untamed, so delicious! Thanks for sharing, Susan.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Susan.Thomsen Avatar
      Susan.Thomsen

      I’m glad to have found this summer poem, Patricia. Glad you liked it too!

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  6. Mitchell Linda Avatar
    Mitchell Linda

    Amen! This is a new to me poem and I love it.

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  7. Susan.Thomsen Avatar
    Susan.Thomsen

    I read a poem of Rao’s on the Yale Review site, and that sent me digging around the internet & finding others. I’m looking forward to read the book this one is in.

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