I've been stumbling through NPM this year, posting sporadically, but I tell myself that an occasional poem is better than none at all.
This poem is an autumn one, but it is autumn where I live, so that works. It works for Earth Day too, in its appreciation for what's in season, not from a package but from the bush, prickles and all.
Blackberry Eating
by Galway Kinnell
I love to go out in late September
among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries
to eat blackberries for breakfast,
the stalks very prickly, a penalty
they earn for knowing the black art
of blackberry-making; and as I stand among them
lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries
fall almost unbidden to my tongue,
Margaret is hosting the roundup today, and she also has today's line for the Progressive Poem.
1 Irene at Live Your Poem
2 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
3 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
4 Mary Lee at A(nother) Year of Reading
5 Buffy at Buffy Silverman
6 Linda at A Word Edgewise
7 Kim Johnson at Common Threads
8 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
9 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
10 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
11 Janet Fagal at Reflections on the Teche
12 Jone at Jone Rush MacCulloch
13 Karin Fisher-Golton at Still in Awe
14 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
15 Carol Labuzzetta at The Apples in my Orchard
16 Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
17 Ruth at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken Town
18 Patricia at Reverie
19 Christie at Wondering and Wandering
20 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
21 Kevin at Dog Trax
22 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
23 Leigh Anne at A Day in the Life
24 Marcie Atkins
25 Marilyn Garcia
26 JoAnn Early Macken
27 Janice at Salt City Verse
28 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
29 Karen Eastlund at Karen’s Got a Blog
30 Michelle Kogan Painting, Illustration, & Writing
6 comments:
Ruth, thank you for sharing Blackberry Eating by Kinnell. I had never read it before. I really liked these lines: "like strengths or squinched, / many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps" - a fun thought there with those words. Happy autumn to you!
"the black art of blackberry making" such a perfect, perfect line. Is Fall where you are as rich and beautiful as it is here? Do you get colors and warm sunsets?
While I'm trying not to eat out of season, I do love reading out of season -- and blackberries that fall unbidden have me longing for summer soon!
Of course, it's fall where you are, & now with your sharing, we have the pleasure of spring & fall celebrations. I do love this one, Ruth. Thanks!
I love the last line. And, on a baser note, I may be drooling!
Yum Ruth, this is so delicious and juicy, and I eat blackberries a lot for breakfast–though I love his description of eating them from the stalks! Happy Belated Earth Day and Happy Fall, thanks!
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