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A Poem That's Got Me Pining for Tomatoes...

Posted by Grace, January 29, 2009 at 10:02 PM

I'm taking a Spanish Lit class right now, and we touched on the poems of Pablo Neruda (one of my favorites :D ) We discussed his poem "Oda al Tomate," and it's got longing for August (or the southern hemisphere-whichever). Since it's a foodie poem, who better, I thought, to share it with? I didn't have enough space for both the spanish and the english versions, so I'm going for the wider audience and posting the translation. If you want the real deal, you can find it here

Ode to the Tomato

The street
filled with tomatoes
midday,
summer,
light is
halved
like
a
tomato,
its juice
runs
through the streets.
In December,
unabated,
the tomato
invades
the kitchen,
it enters at lunchtime,
takes
its ease
on countertops,
among glasses,
butter dishes,
blue saltcellars.
It sheds
its own light,
benign majesty.
Unfortunately, we must
assassinate it:
the knife
sinks
into living flesh,
red
viscera,
a cool
sun,
profound,
inexhausible,
populates the salads
of Chile,
happily, it is wed
to the clear onion,
and to celebrate the union
we
pour
oil,
essential
child of the olive,
onto its halved hemispheres,
pepper
adds
its fragrance,
salt, its magnetism;
it is the wedding
of the day,
parsley
hoists
its flag,
potatoes
bubble vigorously,
the aroma
of the roast
knocks
at the door,
it's time!
come!
and, on
the table, at the midpoint
of summer,
the tomato,
star of earth,
recurrent
and fertile
star,
displays
its convolutions,
its canals,
its remarkable amplitude
and abundance,
no pit,
no husk,
no leaves or thorns,
the tomato offers
its gift
of fiery color
and the totality of its freshness.

Anyone else dreaming of salads, salsas and BLTs?

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