Ms. Perillo's poem is celebratory--it takes guts for a woman to take the first tomato, the whole thing. The sweet reward blends with the loneliness, possibly, of the new, independent women. A woman knows she's truly free when she eats first! Does this go all the way back to Eve? Great poem. Beautiful simplicity with the richness of a garden.
Merimee Moffitt replied on Sun, 12/12/2010 - 07:00pm
Beautiful, gutsy poem. Lucia Perillo's speaker embraces her loneliness, her true self, like a lover who has been waiting patiently. I love the vivid images--I can practically feel the juice of the tomato running down my chin. This is a poem I'll share with my women's writing group.
Marianne Zarzana replied on Mon, 12/13/2010 - 06:01am
Ms. Perillo's poem is very much in the spirit of William Carlos Williams's poem "This Is Just To Say."
Ms. Perillo's poem is celebratory--it takes guts for a woman to take the first tomato, the whole thing. The sweet reward blends with the loneliness, possibly, of the new, independent women. A woman knows she's truly free when she eats first! Does this go all the way back to Eve? Great poem. Beautiful simplicity with the richness of a garden.
Lucia Perillo always uses the vernacular so artfully. Thanks for running this.
Beautiful, gutsy poem. Lucia Perillo's speaker embraces her loneliness, her true self, like a lover who has been waiting patiently. I love the vivid images--I can practically feel the juice of the tomato running down my chin. This is a poem I'll share with my women's writing group.