If We All Wrote and Read Poetry

In my ideal world, everyone would read poetry and everyone would write poetry, and as a result, we would all be more sensitive, thoughtful, considerate, appreciative, and whole.  ---Scott Owens

Scott Owens is one of my very favorite poets. I like this quote by Scott because I agree. Poets are sensitive to everything they encounter. They appreciate even the small things they see and the people who are often not seen. 

Scott says we should be observant and notice everything. He certainly does.

Tomato Man

 by Glenda Beall

Ruby tomatoes in small tan baskets

beg me to buy my lunch. Overalled

and raisin brown, he sits slumped

on the tailgate of a rusty red pickup,

his floppy hat a shade against the burning sun.

 

Will the two-dollar baskets buy

groceries to take home to the waiting

wife who helped him pick the plump fruit?

Or will he go by Bernie's Quik Stop

buy a six-pack or two, and cigarettes

that stain his teeth, tar his lungs?

 

He thanks me for my business, but his faded

eyes belie a mind that's somewhere else.

Today takes care of today. Tomorrow

he'll be here again, the tomatoes

redder, softer, a few fresh ones

sprinkled in, to appeal to people

who smile and speak,

but never see him.

This poem won first place in the Clay County Poetry Contest many years ago.