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