Written by: Madeleine Jenness

Little Tomato plant

Little Tomato plant only has to bask in apartment window filtered sunlight

And drink in fresh water from the tap

Little Tomato plant only has to worry about reaching up up for the sunlight every day

And not where she will get money for her groceries

And not worry whether this store will have toilet paper or not

Little Tomato plant only has to reach her roots deep down into soil to be happy

Little Tomato plant doesn’t worry about staying home all day

Little Tomato plant is happy with her friends of Rosemary and Sage 

Little Tomato plant doesn’t have to miss them through tearful texts of “I wish you were here”

Little Tomato plant is happy regardless, except on cloudy days.

Little Tomato plant doesn’t need social distancing.

Little Tomato plant remains wonderfully unchanged.

This is a poem I wrote for the tomato plant I left behind in my dorm when I moved back to my family’s house due to the virus. I find it funny to think how it has no idea what’s happening in the world, and gets to remain wonderfully unaffected by it. So much has happened in just two weeks. Our lives, our societies have had to change in ways that I’ve never seen. So I find comfort thinking about my little plant, and how simple its life is.

And yes, I gave it a good watering before I left.