Poetry Thursday - How to Make a Tomato Salad

The tomato
warm from the garden bed,
juicy and full of seeds, a woman ripe for love.

The onion
make it sweet and lingering—
adulterous kisses, darkness at noon.

Dashes of salt, a taste of the source,
the seas coming in at the window.

A full blessing of oil—
the fruity olives pressed
by monks chanting a cappella
the earthenware jugs stored in cool cellars,
mellowing.

The basil leaves, spicy and fragrant—
a lover's fingers.

You cannot make too much of this.
And when it's gone...

its memory will, in barren winter,
be like the small hot flame
of a love letter read in secret.

Dolores Stewart (Riccio)

(from Doors to the Universe)

reprinted here with kind permission from the author

Dolores captures the enticements of a summer salad made with garden tomatoes, fresh herbs and olive oil wonderfully, and this is one of my favorite aestival poems.  She is a gifted poet and a fine author, and you may visit her here.  I was delighted to learn recently that she is about to publish a new "Divine Circle of Ladies" novel and a new volume of poetry.