Remember the tomatoes | Teen Ink

Remember the tomatoes MAG

March 8, 2022
By amares813 SILVER, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
amares813 SILVER, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
5 articles 1 photo 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
“Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living things, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on the earth. I said then and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”<br /> <br /> ― Eugene V. Debs, Debs


I haven’t given up trying to be a strong woman, a really good one even.


But, 

when I was a kid, 

I was excited about tomatoes, 

their unique smell

biting fresh may.


So I collected white flower buds,

and green bulging flesh

with dark sage veins.


My mother scolded me, rightly, for criticizing the tomatoes’ taste as I took a bite,  

too soon. 


Chewing and spitting,

a deer in the garden.


I hated them: my sour 

not-quite-ripe things. 


I’m seventeen and remember all that I’ve done wrong. 


So ready to stop a man from abusing me,

That I 

Pluck unripe tomatoes and criticize

As he’s just trying to grow 


It’s hard to love sour 

not-quite-ripe things. 


The author's comments:

This piece explores the traits that stick with us from childhood to beyond. In this piece, the heroine grapples with her impatience through the symbolic imagery of a tomato. 


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