stewed tomatoes

you remember the Dixie cups
of stewed tomatoes
in the school cafeteria.
it was warm like thick
soup, just a ladle full
of the reddish congealed goo
splashed into the cups
then lined in rows.
nearly every day
there they were.
you never saw a single
kid take one and put it on
his tray.
but the netted food
nurses behind
the counter,
in the bright hot
kitchen with oversized
stoves
kept stirring and
setting more out.
what became of any of it,
who knows.
but till this day, not
once have you asked
anyone anywhere for
a Dixie cup full of
tomatoes pureed.