Tuesday, November 17, 2015

thanks to france

 Ode to the Big Tomato

Two blocks along
the Rue de Seine
we shop by the half kilo
for salad ingredients
to toss together
in the closet size kitchen 
of our pied-à-terre
with tall windows 
wide open to the street
one flight of stairs above
cars bumping gently
back and forth
to parallel park;
I ask for a baguette
while Anita buys
the first tomatoes,
a food I didn’t eat––
devoid of flavor at my local 
supermarket––but here
in the sixth arrondissement
where we study history, urban
planning, French literature and
parlance, in this city where
we choose to spend our junior year
abroad, I gain from a tomato
 
the revelation of taste.


~ LCMH