by K.L. Johnston<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Summer\u2019s gift,
these old heirlooms keep giving.
By fall they\u2019ll be vining up
over the fence, standing on trunks
thick as small saplings.
More than the solstice
these last fissured fat fruits
remind you of the when
in this bright season.
This one tomato
prepared in thick slabs
sprinkled with salt,
well peppered, enthroned
on cheese and baby basil
is a feast, the heart of summer.
Or you can eat one over the kitchen sink,
out of hand,
still smelling of morning\u2019s heat,
that tang that does not survive
long journeys to the supermarket.
Lick the blessing from your fingers
(We\u2019ve all done it)
when ripe juice runs down your chin,
rich trickling thick harvest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
K.L. Johnston is best known for award-winning poetry centered in spiritual experience, nature, and trauma survival. She is the author of three books of poetry, and her latest works have appeared in more than fifty literary magazines and anthologies. A retired antiques and art dealer she currently lives near the Savannah River.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by K.L. Johnston Summer\u2019s gift,these old heirlooms keep giving.By fall they\u2019ll be vining upover the fence, standing on trunksthick as small saplings. More than the solsticethese last fissured fat fruitsremind you of the whenin this bright season. This one tomatoprepared in thick slabssprinkled with salt,well peppered, enthronedon cheese and baby basilis a feast, the heart of summer. Or you can eat one over the kitchen sink,out of hand,still smelling of morning\u2019s heat,that tang that does not survivelong journeys to the supermarket. Lick the blessing from your fingers(We\u2019ve all done it)when ripe juice runs down your chin,rich trickling thick harvest. K.L. Johnston is best known for award-winning poetry centered in spiritual experience, nature, and trauma survival. She is the author of three books of poetry, and her latest works have appeared in more than fifty literary magazines and anthologies. A retired antiques and art dealer she currently lives near the Savannah River.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepetigrureview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepetigrureview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepetigrureview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepetigrureview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepetigrureview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thepetigrureview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepetigrureview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepetigrureview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepetigrureview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}