because I craved their taste
he made us a garden
because I told him about Jersey tomatoes
and waxed effusive over the sweet near purple meat
and its ample bursting bumps
and tart smooth thin skin
and the way I add a little bit of salt
to crystallize its sweetness
he made us a garden
yes oh yes yes the Jersey tomato
some say fruit some say vegetable
but tomatoes are the berry of a nightshade plant
and people were once afraid to eat them
but a legendary Camden County man
called them love apples
and he bit in and didn’t die
I told him all this last August at a produce stand
while I was picking through bushel baskets
to find an elusive midafternoon snack
to find the perfect unbruised backyard berry
they don’t grow anywhere else
just one step over the Hudson River
just an inch over the Pennsylvania border
and it loses its character its flavor
and you won’t find them in supermarkets
they just come from a neighbor’s garden
and because I was shut in at work all day
I didn’t see my neighbors much
less and less every year
so every year I hoped for co-workers
to offer me zucchini and tomatoes
from the bulging brown paper bags they bring
because their plants grew too well
he lived in the city for most of his life
but he lives here now
he’s not from around here
but everyone knows him now
he’s allergic to fresh tomatoes
but this year he made us a garden
and we started thinking about hot sauce
and sweet sauce and salsa and soup
and my own brown paper bags to take to work
but we never made a garden before
and I was so afraid the tomato plants
would die that we bought seventeen
delicate two-inch seedlings
five different varieties
perched in tiny soil-filled pots
and he fearfully carefully made love in the earth
and he fretted over the planting and the weather
because someone told me tomatoes like to be near basil
he planted herbs near their wire cages
because someone told me marigolds attract bees
and ward off unseen insect evils
he planted yellow flowers around the perimeter fence
and someone told me lime and peat moss and plant food
and hoe and aerate and water and and
and he did and he did and he did and
up they came after the rain
up they came lush and leafy and tall
he grew us a glorious green garden
but someone told me watch out for too much sun
leaf blight and boring insects that lay their eggs in stems
and those birds and the rabbits and too much water
and he did and he did and he did and
out they came following the little white blossoms
out they came green and glowing
and the days got hotter and hotter
and the end of July humidity hung on and on
and I was looking out the window
watching the perspiration bead up on his back
while he once again tended to the weeding
I said look I can see them from here
look how tall and full they are
look look what a wonderful thing you’ve done
look look look I see a red one near your arm
and then he saw me framed by the kitchen window
he saw me through the sticky stems and smiled
he stopped for a moment
he surveyed the yard and my brow
the rainstorms made them grow
he told me blinking away salty sweat
yes I said oh yes yes my love
and look look look my love
the heat of the sun made them ripe