Here Comes and Other Poems (Originally Published As Fruits & Vegetables and Half-Lives)

Fruits & Vegetables, originally published in 1971, offers a glimpse into the daring, erotic imagination of a young author of great promise. Here is a writer who puts metaphors in her oven, fruits and vegetables in her bed. In her tide poem, Jong considers the character of the onion: "Not self-righteous like the proletarian potato, nor a siren like the apple. No show-off like the banana. But a modest, self-effacing vegetable, questioning, introspective, peeling itself away . . ." Throughout her debut collection, Erica Jong demonstrates a remarkable adventurousness, erudition, lyricism, and command of the poetic form.