Tomatoes bubble off the vine

1: Severence at the Safeway
(an Almost-Tanka)

You must buy groceries
every week. You'll never leave.
A version of you
stays among the leeks and chives:
tomatoes bubble off the vine.

Instead, he said, Brother! I know your hunger.
To this, the Wolf answered, Lo!

-Elena Passarello, Animals Strike Curious Poses

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Rook

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Sun Apr 05, 2026 2:27 am

Rook says... · Sun Apr 05, 2026 2:27 am

2: "We Will Be Open Tomorrow"

I drive to Seattle for the first time,
avoiding a fatal crash on the way there.
Breathing slower now, I watch the sea, the line
of the horizon, flat, dividing air

from water. Seagulls laugh and I laugh back,
thrilled to be alive and moving. I'm free
to go anywhere I please. The little shack
that sells chowder, fish 'n chips, and coffee

to boaters coming back to land is closed
till sunrise. There are many oracles
divining the future. Shore birds hold
crustaceans to the stars--a sign. Barnacles

constellate the rocks: the world will go on.
The days get colder, warmer, shorter, long.

Instead, he said, Brother! I know your hunger.
To this, the Wolf answered, Lo!

-Elena Passarello, Animals Strike Curious Poses

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Spearmint

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Sun Apr 05, 2026 3:21 am

Spearmint says... · Sun Apr 05, 2026 3:21 am

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obsessed with the title. "Tomatoes bubble off the vine" is just so descriptive and accurate and poetic?! it feels like i can sense the fresh, juicy tomatoes just through those words

love the mood of your first two poems too! "Seagulls laugh and I laugh back, / thrilled to be alive and moving. I'm free / to go anywhere I please." beautiful <3

mint, she/her

.--. / ... ...- -.-. .-.. / - .--. ..- .- / .--- --- ...- .--- / .--- --- .--. .-- / .--. .--- .-.. / .--- -.-- .-.. .... -
=D

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alliyah

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Sat Apr 11, 2026 3:06 am

alliyah says... · Sat Apr 11, 2026 3:06 am

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Ah Rook - glad you are poeting with us this April! <3

I really enjoy the vivid sense of "place" in your second poem - ha having driven around Seattle a few times I know exactly that AHHH moment of narrowly avoiding death, but then the calm contrast of the Ocean moments too - for such an anxious beginning the poem feels calm and gentle as it closes.

you should know i am a time traveler &
there is no season as achingly temporary as now

but i have promised to return

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Rook

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Sun Apr 12, 2026 5:00 am

Rook says... · Sun Apr 12, 2026 5:00 am