POEMS OF SUMMER

Caging the Tomatoes

July 29, 1992

Today I caged the tomatoes But things have already gone too far. They've tasted the freedom Of snaking through the weedy garden. Their snarly tentacles Sport fruitful yellow. I forced the ornery limbs Into tall wire prisons Feeling guilty when parts Snapped in my hands. My skin still wears the sticky scent of their resistance.