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Sally Murphy, Australian author

Poetry Friday: Cherry Tomato

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I’ve been busy writing about poetry for my doctoral studies, which means (a little ironically) I have missed the last two Poetry Fridays. So I was determined to post something today but couldn’t settle on a topic. So, I decided to scroll through my photos and choose one to write an impromptu poem.

The first photo that caught my eye was this one:

Tomato 2015

I took it early last year. It’s the first, perfect, cherry tomato from last year’s crop. I was so proud of that one tomato that I photographed it and shared here on my blog, and on Facebook and Twitter too.  But afterwards I ate it which is, after all, what one should do with a tomato. I remember very clearly that it was delicious – and left me wanting more, which of course I had to wait for, because the others weren’t ripe yet.

How to capture that in a poem? Here’s my effort.

Cherry Tomato

You looked

too perfect to eat

So instead I took a photo

shared you with the world.

through social media

collected likes

and comments.

 

Later though

I succumbed

to your wiles

and ate you in a single

sweet, tangy mouthful.

 

I don’t remember who commented

or how many likes you garnered

but I do remember

that delicious bite

that I couldn’t share

with anyone.

(Poem copyright Sally Murphy 2016).

 

Haven’t written a poem lately? Here’s a challenge: scroll through the photos in your social media account, or on your phone – then see if you can capture that moment in a few lines of poetry.

Have a great Poetry Friday. The roundup today is at Buffy’s Blog.

Comments

  1. Good luck with your doctoral studies! It was good of you to bring us that tangy tomato in the middle of your work. If you decide to join us for poetry swapping, it will be a Summer/Winter Poem Swap. 🙂

  2. Exactly what Michelle said.

    (and my mouth is watering — fresh tomatoes from the garden seem so far away from this chilly cloudy drizzly spring morning in Ohio!!)

    • Thanks Mary. We have chilly cloudly drizzly autumn down here at the moment, so not so very different 🙂

  4. The perfect way to celebrate a perfect tomato: revel in it’s beauty, enjoy its taste, and remember both in a poem.

  5. Picture & poem perfect, Sally. At first I thought the tomato in the pic was not real, it is such a perfect one, as you say. Your poem reminds about the “plums” in William Carlos Williams’ refrigerator. He didn’t share either!

  8. Delicious poem to go with a delicious looking photo!
    I like how you were able to “share” its perfect image but not the delicious bite.

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