Poetry for Winter Days
Our wonderful Tomato poets Nicole Freezer Rubens, Carol Ostrow, Madlyn Epstein Steinhart, and Katherine MK Mitchell, unravel threads of emotions, thoughts, and reflections, each woven by a distinct voice. “He’s Going Crazy” paints a poignant picture of a journey observed from a distance. “Decisions, Decisions!” invites us to embrace the unknown, to tread the untried road with courage. Rosalyn Carter, a beacon of inspiration, is commemorated in the heartfelt verses “Rosalyn Carter.” The absence of enduring love and the yearning for connection echo through “No Love For Me.”
He’s Going Crazy
I really think he’s going mad.
I stay still in my orange molded plastic seat
as my train slinks through
his far away Prospect Park
subway stop,
and that’s what overtakes me.
I’m rolling under him and past him
without stopping,
knowing that he’s slowly
running full speed
into a giant wailing wall.
In the nooks and crannies
lie wishes and weeds,
rolled and folded tattered notes people left
scrawled with their hopes and dreams.
The impact will ache.
His trip from the old ditch
in his sagging mattress
to the new heights of soaring euphoria,
is out of my reach.
In the past
I would have texted while passing through,
or even invited him
to take off his damp socks
and walk skin to scattered litter
in the city sand
that awaits me at Coney Island,
but I don’t want to.
He has other women now
who should be cushioning
his ultimate fall,
and I don’t know if I can trust them.
~Nicole Freezer Rubens, author “The Long Pause and the Short Breath”
Decisions, Decisions!
Great people don’t always think things out,
They may not have money nor any clout,
But they do go forward and will discover,
A new adventure, perhaps even a lover!
We know the untried road is really scary,
A wrong decision can get rather hairy,
Who cares if you fail, at least you’ve tried,
The truth, to confess, I’ve screamed and cried,
Why am I doing this, and in retrospect,
I’m glad I did it with absolutely no regret,
So what, I say, pushing forward this idea,
What the hell, learning to live with constant fear,
Sometimes that works and sometimes it won’t,
I’ll never know if I stop and don’t,
Move forward. You know what I mean!!!!
~Carol Ostrow, author “Poems from My Pandemic Pen”
Rosalyn Carter
The forever kind
Changed lives and lived every day as an inspiration to us all
A Storybook Love and Life
To Honor she isn’t enough
She would not want that anyway
Your politics and ideas don’t matter here
What she accomplished still grows and helps many
What matters is that we say farewell to this amazing human being
We should strive to be as kind and incredible as she was
To say the mold was broken is not enough but she was so much more than enough
She more than cared she did something with it and about it
No Love For Me
Never had a steadfast love,
A lasting love, but many of the fleeting kind.
Never had a real wedding,
A fancy wedding, lots of people and gifts to blow my mind.
Never had a champion who stood by me
Heralding my God-given abilities.
Never had a true friend who gave and
stayed to celebrate my qualities.
Never had a real family
Oozing with love, enriching my being.
Never was needed by anyone and
Here I am still hoping and waiting.
~ Katherine MK Mitchell, author “From Budapest to Hollywood”
Poetry is back in vogue and through The Three Tomatoes Book Publishing we have the honor of publishing books by four poets—Madlyn Epstein Steinhart, Stephanie Sloane, Nicole Freezer Rubens, and Carol Ostrow. Check out their poetry submissions each month.
