by Jo Angela Edwins<\/p>\n\n\n\n
July 4, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I just sliced a deep red tomato by Jo Angela Edwins July 4, 2024 I just sliced a deep red tomatogrown in a kind man\u2019s garden,a gift he gave me todayout of his kindness, and I stackedeach slice on top of a pieceof white bread slatheredin Duke\u2019s mayonnaise,and I salted and I peppered,and I topped it all with anotherpiece of white bread slatheredin Duke\u2019s mayonnaise,and I lifted the sandwichand took a giant bite,and the juices ran pinkand creamy down my chin,and, yes, I am Southern-bornand raised by two Southernerswho were nowhere near perfectbut were decent at heart,and they did not shove bitter vegetablesor hatred down my throat,and I have no patiencefor anyone I knowwho would wish to make harderthe life of the kind manwho grew that tomato,a man with brown skinand another kind manfor a husband, and theyare Southern too, and ifthe sharp knife of your votecast in pride or selfishnesscuts them or really anyoneuntil blood runs in the streets,know that the knives of crueltycut both ways, and everyone\u2019s bloodis the same deep shade of red,and one day all of it may rundown the chins of the monstersto whom you gave the tower keys,and maybe then you\u2019ll wonder(or maybe not) in your own hurtwhy the God you say you pray todidn\u2019t save you from yourself. Jo Angela Edwins has published poems in over 100 journals and anthologies. She is author of the collection A Dangerous Heaven (2023) and the chapbooks Play (2016), and Bitten (2025). She has received awards from Winning Writers, Poetry Super Highway, the Jasper Project, and the SC Academy of Authors. She teaches at Francis Marion University in Florence, SC, and is the poet laureate of the Pee Dee region of South Carolina.<\/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":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issue-18-2025"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepetigrureview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3366","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=3366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thepetigrureview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3366\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepetigrureview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepetigrureview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepetigrureview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
grown in a kind man\u2019s garden,
a gift he gave me today
out of his kindness, and I stacked
each slice on top of a piece
of white bread slathered
in Duke\u2019s mayonnaise,
and I salted and I peppered,
and I topped it all with another
piece of white bread slathered
in Duke\u2019s mayonnaise,
and I lifted the sandwich
and took a giant bite,
and the juices ran pink
and creamy down my chin,
and, yes, I am Southern-born
and raised by two Southerners
who were nowhere near perfect
but were decent at heart,
and they did not shove bitter vegetables
or hatred down my throat,
and I have no patience
for anyone I know
who would wish to make harder
the life of the kind man
who grew that tomato,
a man with brown skin
and another kind man
for a husband, and they
are Southern too, and if
the sharp knife of your vote
cast in pride or selfishness
cuts them or really anyone
until blood runs in the streets,
know that the knives of cruelty
cut both ways, and everyone\u2019s blood
is the same deep shade of red,
and one day all of it may run
down the chins of the monsters
to whom you gave the tower keys,
and maybe then you\u2019ll wonder
(or maybe not) in your own hurt
why the God you say you pray to
didn\u2019t save you from yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
Jo Angela Edwins has published poems in over 100 journals and anthologies. She is author of the collection A Dangerous Heaven<\/em> (2023) and the chapbooks Play<\/em> (2016), and Bitten<\/em> (2025). She has received awards from Winning Writers, Poetry Super Highway, the Jasper Project, and the SC Academy of Authors. She teaches at Francis Marion University in Florence, SC, and is the poet laureate of the Pee Dee region of South Carolina.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"