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Tejal Rao
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Here at Planet Green we take the slightly controversial opinion that when it comes to tomato haiku contests, there are only winners. That's why if you entered our inaugural tomato haiku contest you're a winner and featured here (leave a comment if we left you out, it wasn't intentional!) While we wanted to share all 73 of these (mostly) great haikus, we did take the time to break them into categories: General Tomato Admiration, Tomato Confusion, Tomato Blight, Disease, Destruction, Tomato Varieties, Practical Tomato Applications, Tomato Anxiety—who knew so many you out there had tomato anxiety?—and Meta Tomato Haikus about Tomato Haikus.
While our egalitarian interests might dominate the general everything-goes format you see here, we did pull out a few of our favorites which are read beautifully aloud in the below audio file by PlanetGreen.com writer Nicole Willner. Hope you had fun writing these, have fun reading them and listening to the, fingers crossed, 5/7/5 syllable arrangements. Please use the comments to vote on favorites or add more haikus.
Regardless of your feelings on tomatoes or haikus, here's to the revived interest in organic gardening, heirloom foods, biodiversity, local agriculture, CSAs, composing and the myriad topics inspiring the menagerie of green poetry that follows.
Listen to Tomato Haikus (MP3)
General Tomato Admiration
Tomato Haiku I
Tomatoes galore
Create yummy summer treats
Right from the garden
—L. Grant
Tomato Haiku II
Green now ruby soon
At my window filling it
With emerald leaf
—L. Wills
Tomato Haiku III
The apple of love
firm fragrant seeded beauty
red raw ripe wonder
—K. Hall
Listen to a reading of this haiku
Tomato Haiku IV
Your warm, earthy scent
Stirring childhood memories.
Sliced on grandma's plate.
—K. Thaxton
Tomato Haiku V
Fresh, juicy and ripe
Summer garden tomatoes
Oh, how I love thee.
—S. Ford
Tomato Haiku VI
even in farmland
all tomatoes I harvest
truly, most favored
—A. Benitez
Tomato Haiku VII
smooth, red, and juicy
Ripe! and smelling of summer
sun warmed skin. scrumptious.
—M. Sipple
Tomato Haiku VIII
I tear from the vine
To put in my mouth, bite down
Explosion of seeds
—J. Snell
Listen to a reading of this haiku
Tomato Haiku IX: Luscious Tomatoes
You Hang from the vine
Inviting and waiting
The inevitable
—E. Marotta
Tomato Haiku X
From the vines come
juicy red globes of
summer delight.
—K. Heidenreich
Tomato Haiku XI
picked from the garden
the last tomato ripens-
kitchen window sill
—C. Hicks
Tomato Haiku XII
bare feet in the mud
the ripe tomato still wet-
Summer morning dew
—C. Hicks
Tomato Haiku XIII
Sweet, juicy red globe
Eaten right in my garden
Priceless summer joy
—Lindsay R.
Tomato Haiku XIV
Oh I spy Green Orange Red
Finally Harvest Time!
Juice Ooze down my Chin
—D. Searle
Tomato Haiku XV
Plump luciousness, deep
Red is beauty incarnate
Feeding the peaceful soul
—P. Rice
Tomato Haiku XVI
Green, red, yellow, purple
oh tomato your colors!
flavor explosions
—M. Farrell
Tomato Haiku XVII
Squishy succulence
Juice droplet drawn at knife point
Heralding summer
—A. Lewis
Listen to a reading of this haiku
Tomato Haiku XVIII
Sweet solstice sunshine
aromatic vines growing tall
harvest juice filled fruits
—D. Doyle
Tomato Haiku XIX
Tomato my love
Very Red and Yummy Yum
My heart beats for you
—A. Desai
Tomato Haiku XX
Red heart of the vine
Your flesh sanctifies my health
And I am content.
—K. Graef
Tomato Haiku XXI
From ground to the air
Mound of tomatos stack up
Can't wait to eat them!
—J. Ribay
Tomato Haiku XXII
On the vine or off
Tomatoes are chocolate
Puffy clouds of sweet
—L. Wolf
Tomato Haiku XXIII: Tomatoes in Phoenix
They cling to the vine
in high heat and burning sun
and then they ripen.
—R. Zemek
Tomato Confusion
Tomato Haiku XXIV
Is this really fruit?
Fresh Red, Yellow, Green, Heirloom
Tomatoes are good.
—T. Andrychowski
Tomato Haiku XXV
Some say to-MAY-to
And others say to-MAH-to
It's all good to me
—B. Wiener
Tomato Haiku XXVI
asymmetrical
ugly heirloom tomato
but beautiful taste
—E. Kay-Oliphant
Tomato Haiku XXVII
Misunderstood fruit
Flushed yellow lush in bloom
Taste buds adore you
—B. Williams
Tomato Haiku XXVIII
Without winter?s grit
The red summer flesh exists
To charm the palate
—S. Ford
Tomato Haiku XXIX
Confusing red ball
Are you vegetable or fruit?
Who cares-you're delish.
—A. Sharpe
Tomato Blight, Disease, Destruction
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| Tejal Rao |
Tomato Haiku XXX
Blossom end rot. Blight.
This season is strenuous.
Godspeed, sanguine friend.
—S. Phillips
Tomato Haiku XXXI
left by the chipmunk
a half-eaten tomato-
salad on the deck
—C. Hicks
Listen to a reading of this haiku
