"it's me, hi"

'it's me, hi' ~from Anti-Hero by Taylor Swift

disappoint

show me the most damaged parts of your soul, and I will show you how it still shines like gold ~ Nikita Gill

SpoFest Featured Reader!

Happy New Year friends,

I will be one of the featured readers on Tuesday, February 7 from 6-8:30 on SpoFest. Join us through Facebook or via Zoom for an evening of poetry. Not only will you experience superb poetry, but there'll also be raffles, Q & A, open mic (perhaps you'll share?), and book giveaways!

I hope to see you there,

Mary

Here's a poem from my farming days to whet your appetite:

tomato tar

in my stained hands

cupped like a chalice

I hold a tomato blush toned

heart shaped

harvesting

in the high tunnel

where vines trellis

tall then cascade

down the other side

I work for a farmer

fond of obscure varieties:

Green Zebra striping into

chartreuse and lime when ripe

Garden Peach, a fuzzy yellow

ping pong ball

Chocolate Chestnut

which tastes like neither

nor smells like tomato

and how are tomatoes fruit

like peaches

that dribble juice

down my chin

but not like blackberries

which don’t blacken my fingers

but stain them

red instead

if it does not match the

color

shape

smell

I expect

how do I

recognize it

this heart shaped one

construction paper pink

like a Valentine

nothing like

the chambered muscle

pulsing in my chest

cupped in white ribs

a different sort of chalice

what does either

have to do

with love

but I am not

writing a love

poem

besides, how does

the accretion of yellow

dust from tomatoes

tar my hands

then cascade

green in water

which is

oh so

clear