Summary

In the first stanza, the speaker describes the scent of rot in her garden. As the sugar in the tomato fruits ferments, it produce ethanol, which is why the speaker compares the scent to whiskey. Fruit flies scatter every time she touches the decomposing tomatoes. She states that the plants are dying.

The second stanza highlights the small yellow blossoms that the speaker notices even as she pulls up the tomato plants by the roots. From there, she throws the plants into the compost.

For the speaker, eradicating plants feels cruel. In the third stanza, she states that she is still holding on to summer. The tomatoes are the fruits of her labor, and she is reluctant to destroy them. The yellow flowers indicate a small hope for more fruit.

The poem's final stanza showcases the speaker's ancestral connection to the earth and to...