This is beautifully written, but I felt compelled to say that I can just hate tomatoes twice as much, in order to make up for your lapse.

...chris, well-named and blamed nahahaha...i never saw such depth of a tomato as you give it...loved this. such a truth in many things, seeds and all. good 'un.

I bet the ones you're growing are infinitely better than the ones you hated. Your poem took me back to my own "clean your plate/starving children in fill-in-the-blank" childhood.

Dear Chris, I do hope you get professional help for yourself and your tomatoes. Loved the poem. I have 20 plants in my garden and if I get a bumper crop I will be glad to share. Loved hearing about Aunt Thelma. Nice flow to the poem. Like pouring out a can of crushed tomatoes. As a aside I think you need to add an "e" to the second last stanza. It must have fallen from the vine.

With a pound of reality, an once of humor, a pinch of whimsy, and a tablespoon of creativity, you've served a poetic tomato dish quite appealing. (I have always loved a fresh tomato sandwich.)

fresh raw tomatoes i've been good with since forever, but when they're cooked i couldn't eat them for a long time. i remember as a little kid my dad made me eat peeled stewed tomatoes, i showed him by vomiting all over the dinner table. i have not eaten stewed tomatoes on their own since.

I don't like tomatoes either, but I love the poem. Tomatoes are easy to grow.

Never have tomatoes been packed! - juicy yet poignant with personal history. How self-revelatory, brave, and mature. I relate in so many ways... even in the ability to look back on these events with serenity rather than loathing... Chis, so much of your work unabashedly tells us who you are without apology and without sugar. To me, that is a sign of a good poet. Thanks, my friend.