A collection of poems and other writings...

Thursday 3 September 2015

the last blackberries

am out too late again this year and all that’s left
are gritty on the vine, some bleeding under
clumsy thumbs, some bullet red, some green
some sourly shaded from the autumn sun

I pick a handful, two, just for the sake
of other more refulgent times and roll
them in this optimistic tub, where bruising stains
cloud plastic sides and maggots mouth their fill

more berries here but just at dog piss height
so left by others and by me and those
above protected by tall grey nettle shoots
that catch the fingers as the hand withdraws

then through the wood to see the tree that once
I fancied held my mother’s breath in sun,
where once I stood my hand held still against
the bark, and dumbly wept her loss again – again


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