The Three Tomatoes’ poets, have new poems that cover a range of emotions that will make you think, make you laugh, and pause for just a moment.

Simple Pleasures

Love, it seems, is all around,

Even though I have not found,

The one!

Of course there have been a series of three,

Who were brave enough to marry me,

But now, the last one left me free,

All alone to simply be,

A woman, a person, to live and enjoy,

But all I want is a cute boy toy,

You know what I mean!

To bring me breakfast on a tray,

To do nice things for me each day,

To understand whatever I say,

Even when I refuse to play,

Any games, or call him nasty names,

When I want to be left alone,

You know what,

I’m living in a bubble,

A relationship is too much trouble.

Living alone is just fine.

~Carol Ostrow, author of “Poems from My Pandemic Pen”

In Rotation

I want my headstone to read

“had her cake and ate it too”.

I hope to make sad strangers passing by

giggle a little

while standing on my grassy plot.

I want to get everything I want

when I’m supposed to have it.

I can be patient

and live each moment fully

because time must not be squandered.

But I ride my merry-go-round

with my weaker hand griping the rein

and the stronger one

reaching for

that brilliant brass ring.

On the never-ending rotation

one day I will yank it down

and wear it as a bracelet

until my next chapter begins.

Then I will return it

to the ride’s chassis

for someone else to pursue,

while I am eating strawberry shortcake

all the way to my grave.

~Nicole Freezer Rubens, author of “The Long Pause and the Short Breath”

At 65, rewritten from Janis Ian’s At 17