Tomato High Priestess by Violet Nesdoly

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Tomato High Priestess
by
Violet Nesdoly

She had her tomato liturgy memorized

knew by heart all the articles of faith

how you seeded them indoors

six weeks before the last frost

moved the neophytes into the garden

when soil was warm, sunlight glorious.

She watered them religiously

from the bottom

and had her own ideology

of pruning and tying

sprawling and caging.

Her credo of cutworm collars

assured them all salvation.

In the evening they had sweet communion.

As she picked plum, grape, and cherry

their leaves and stems anointed

her hands and arms with their incense.

She fingered the fruits like rosary beads

before popping them into her mouth.

Already in August her kitchen

was font and altar

for tomatoes and toast

tomatoes and cheese

tomato salad, tomato soup.

And how those nightshade fruits

those luscious love apples

answered the prayers

of an empty pantry

filling it with jars of canned tomatoes

bottles of ketchup, jugs of relish

stocking its freezer full of tomato sauce.

My mother was a superior

tomato high priestess

though she never did

convert me to the faith.

I remain agnostic

after several heartbreaking

summers of tomato blight.

This poem first appeared in FellowScript (November 2011).
Used here with the author's permission.

Violet Nesdoly lives near Vancouver, B.C. When she's not working at various writing projects she enjoys reading and walking local nature trails with her husband, camera in hand. Her poems have appeared in a variety of print and online publications (Time of Singing, Prairie Messenger, Utmost Christian Writers and Your Daily Poem, among them). She has also published two books of poetry—Calendar (2004), Family Reunion (2007), and a novel, Destiny's Hands (2012). Visit her on the web at violetnesdoly.com.

VNesdoly:
Thanks so much for these lovely comments. It's always an honor to be featured here at Your Daily Poem! May the rest of your summer and fall be full of tomatoes.
Posted 08/04/2013 09:17 AM

Havenwood:
This was a delicious read and write. Well done! We have tomatoes (and a variety of other garden miracles) coming out of our ears, here in upstate NY.
Posted 08/03/2013 05:56 PM

LindaCrosfield:
"...the prayers of an empty pantry"...love it! All we grew this year is tomatoes and basil. The little tomatoes are just edible now with the large ones starting to redden near the bolting basil. Lovely poem!
Posted 08/03/2013 02:46 PM

Wilda Morris:
When I lived on an acre in Indiana, I planted oodles of tomatoes and made ketchup, tomato sauce, etc., and ate a lot of fresh home-grown tomatoes. I have a much smaller place now - and the weather hasn't cooperated the last few summers. I miss having a big harvest. Thanks for the memories, and the fine poem.
Posted 08/03/2013 01:28 PM

transitions:
I call it 'wonderful'; looks like you had a great time playing with all of those marvelous words:) Judy
Posted 08/03/2013 12:01 PM

KevinArnold:
The last stanza (actually, since the lengths differ, I hear it can be called a paragraph) makes a perfect ending to this poem.
Posted 08/03/2013 08:57 AM

wordsmith:
Wonderful, wonderful poem! Thank you.
Posted 08/03/2013 08:43 AM

paradea:
I love this poem. I also love your Poet's Classroom column on Utmost Christian Writers website. Thanks for all of it!!
Posted 08/03/2013 08:36 AM

gigi:
I depend on the Farmers Market but remember the days of old when Jersey Tomatoes were the size of two fists and the sweetness unequaled by anything I find today. Thanks for this delicious poem.
Posted 08/03/2013 05:56 AM

MaryLeeHahn:
Oh, the shift in the last stanza, when "she" turns into your mom and you reveal your loss of faith! I am not quite agnostic, but I am rather casual in my faith. I left the tomato faith and went all basil for a couple of years because of blight. The "sweet communion" straight off the plant always brings me back!
Posted 08/03/2013 04:36 AM

Ross Kightly:
In my case, Dad was the grower and Mum did all the cooking and preserving - typical division of labour for a 1950s Australian household I think - lovely poem, this: thank you for the scent of tomato into today!
Posted 08/03/2013 04:25 AM

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