Foot of the Lake Poetry Collective

Judy Barisonzi is a semi-retired professor of English at the University of Wisconsin Colleges.

She now lives in northwest Wisconsin, where she leads community writing workshops and belongs to the Trinity Writers’ Group and the Solon Springs Writers’ Group. Her poems have been published in magazines such as Rattle, The Lyric, and Willow Review.

TOMATOES

Sprawl is their nature. Close to the ground,
they lay plump cheeks against warm earth,
breathe nitrogen-deep. No use warning them
of crack, fungus, rot to follow.

Gone for a weekend, I return,
shocked at their betrayal. Keep calm.
Gently I coax stems green-fruit-heavy
back inside the wire, tenderly weave them

under and up. Thick pulpy fibers
look steady, then flop. No false move
or snap, the wages of summer lost.
At last heirlooms rest on the topmost rung

and I cajole: Give me just a few
more weeks. Do they smile? And have I learned
anything? Laying low? Compassion?
Next year, I’ll go with stronger cages.

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