New Tomatoes

Light lingers on these lucent gems:
Two tomatoes, an onion, a cloudy vase,
two dwarf sunflowers--called
a still life because it is still alive,
still fools, with its image of old light,
the living light in this room
that preens itself to think it's put
the rubiate glow on these tomatoes.
(Can you feel the light here gaining
confidence? Soon our faces will glow.)
(Later, I think, we had the tomatoes
and the onion in a hot-dish, which
we relished, but not with the gusto
of this light--devouring them or being
devoured by them? The flowers, of course,
eat light--see them nibbling?--to excrete
fresh air and honey.) (I'm getting hungry.)
Light floods out of this painting--
hard to believe it but a reflection.
And who'd have thought the flat white stuff
emitted from these mass-produced G.E. bulbs
would really know its onions?
Perhaps the source of this painting's light
is my stomach. Look at the crisp sheen
on that golden onion skin! The tomatoes
are bursting with tangy light! My eyes
are stuffed, but I'm hungry!

Dean Blehert

Last Updated: October 6, 2002