Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Tomatoes" by Stephen Dobyns is a darkly humorous and deeply poignant poem that explores themes of identity, loss, and the bizarre ways people cope with grief. The narrative follows a tragic and surreal sequence of events that begins with a woman's attempt to preserve her youth through plastic surgery and ends with her son's unconventional way of memorializing her.

The poem starts with a woman traveling to Brazil for a face-lift, a common enough scenario reflecting societal pressures and the desire to maintain youth. However, the narrative quickly takes a turn for the tragic when, after her surgery, she is killed during a robbery. The absurdity of life and death, emphasized by the casual "Bang, she's dead," introduces a stark commentary on the randomness and brutality of modern life.

Further complicating the narrative is the mix-up at the morgue in New York, where the son is unable to recognize his mother among ten women who have all been shot. This scenario underscores the disconnection and confusion that often accompanies the processes surrounding death, particularly in a modern context where identities can be altered so drastically, as in the case of the woman's face-lift. The son's struggle to identify his mother's body, using memories of her physical and emotional comfort to him as a child, adds a layer of tragedy to the already grim situation.

The resolution of this mix-up in the morgue is both grim and absurd: the son takes home all ten bodies, cremates them together, and keeps their ashes in a "huge silver garbage can." This grotesque image is a stark contrast to the typical dignified urn on a mantelpiece and serves as a metaphor for the son's overwhelming grief and the loss of individuality in death.

In a bizarre twist that combines grotesqueness with tenderness, the son uses the ashes to fertilize tomato plants, linking back to his mother's love for tomatoes. The tomatoes, growing vigorously from the soil enriched by the ashes, become a symbol of life continuing in the face of death. They are described in terms that vividly recall his mother—her breasts, her touch—highlighting the son's deep yearning and the complex intertwining of nourishment, both physical and emotional, provided by a mother.

The poem concludes with the son flinging himself onto the tomatoes in a moment of intense emotional catharsis, seeking comfort in the only remaining connection to his mother. This act of "ravenous kisses" on the tomatoes is both a literal and figurative attempt to reclaim a closeness with his mother, illustrating the profound impact of loss and the lengths to which grief can drive human behavior.

"Tomatoes" deftly navigates the intersection of the absurd and the deeply sentimental, presenting a narrative that is both unsettling and touching. Stephen Dobyns challenges the reader to confront the discomfort of death and the often grotesque aspects of grief, while also acknowledging the profound love and loss that underlie these emotions. The poem is a vivid exploration of how people cope with death in ways that can seem strange but are deeply rooted in the human experience of loss and remembrance.

POEM TEXT: https://www.wisdomportal.com/StephenDobyns/DobynsReading.html

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