Dagma and I share weeks of harvesting our organic heirloom tomatoes for seeds to share world-wide on TomatoFest.com. It's not all work- from first light to sunset. This is a heart-filling experience for us...with many opportunities to appreciate the ART and poetry in our lives as tomato farmers.
A stunning and unique tomato!
Borne from a tangle of vine,
under a canopy of rugose green,
I coaxed from hiding
the whole of your
conspicuous prominence
and modest folds
into my open hands,
and lifted the bizarre surprise,
the architectural wonder of you
toward my startled face and beating heart.
In the theatre of my mind
you became a shooting 'star.'
Leaves in the morning breeze
rustled you applause
to live your brief and noble life
as celebrity.
Dagma and I harvested this tomato a few years ago. I named it 'Panjandrum' tomato (word meaning a powerful or pretentious personage). This single fruit was unique to the variety (I do not recall the variety name), and unique to the plant. We were so enamored with the beauty of the fruit we carried it carefully from the garden to photograph and enjoy, as art, at home. Someday, I intend to include this photo in an upcoming book, "The Tomato as Art," to share a new look at the heirloom tomato by showcasing diverse examples of the visual beauty of their shapes and colors while exploring nature's deliberateness and wild folly.
Copyright Gary Ibsen All rights reserved.