Tomatoes used to taste better
When I was a child:
Squishy, succulent, seedy
Like nature blossomed in my mouth;
With the rind squeaking between my teeth
As the juice engulfed my tongue
And the seeds swam as if to
Celebrate something.
I stopped celebrating with them
When the eyes of the beloved —
Deep as the sea —
Flooded my brain’s love centres,
Engulfing my love
For tomatoes and trains
And for the wind and words,
Until one day he left
In the dead of the night.
Now I don’t taste a thing
With my arid brain
Cluttered with anxieties,
Even as I squish tomatoes into my mouth
To moisten my withered soul
Deep as the abyss.
Kishore Kumar
kilroykishore 