a midwestern guide to familial communication

my father sent me a hanging tomato  plant for my birthday.

You plant the seeds and then hang the device,

and all summer long you have tomatoes

for salsa or BLT's or whatever.

This is horticulture of a different sort,

we have the weather,

then we have the tomato status update,

then I ask about my mother,

then I hang up.

 

I'm thinking of getting him one of those bamboo stems

that grow out of water. Supposedly the chinese

believe them to be good luck.

We don't need luck, what we need is insurance,

against winter,

the sure death of tomato plants.

Reviews

[fireblossom]

Well said. A really good poem.

[DavidRyan]

So simple and amazing. Well done, man. Your writing has never ceased to be amazing.