One skin-tight bite
of this sweet tarty tomato
cancels all dominion of the self.
Tasting the flesh in this flesh
one easily becomes translucent.
Criss-crossing the tomato heart,
brigades of sensations sensate my mouth.
So what’s this shake-out between eating tomatoes and making love?
This skin blushing red to a simple touch,
this full fleshy feeling plump in the hand,
aroma divine of the love apple from the vine,
the skin kissable above or below the nipple or navel?
For what’s a kiss on the cheek, or luscious red lips,
but the flesh of a tomato ripe in the mouth.
Ah! To live where tomatoes ripen every day!
Every hour! Now! Taste the tarty tomato.
* * *
James A. Ciletti has been the Pikes Peak Poet Laureate, the president of Poetry West, and is a co-owner of the independent bookstore Hooked on Books. Ciletti has published two books of poetry, won numerous awards of his work, and has debuted the first chapter of his upcoming novel in a writing magazine. He also teaches creative writing classes at the Fremont Correctional Facility.
