It's Still Life

Blackberrying Couplets

blackberries
ping – the bottom of a pail,

stick stuck pricked by
briars and vines, like ravenous arms in

august heat
and fireweed, stumps and trees against

bare legs
bumps and welts, itch and scratch, fire ants

lotions dab
on calamine, paste of soda, vinegar, whine

blackberries
in a pot, a spill of sugar, a skin of jam

blackberries
so viciously sublime

 

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Written for Miz Quickly’s Day 3: Now/Then/When pleasure and contradiction. © Misky 2021 Photo by Will Tarpey on Unsplash