Thursday 24 April 2008

purple in the shade




I wade into the thorny waters

to pick those plump rich berries

just a stretch away,

a scratch away, a curled hand,

two subtle fingers reaching up beneath a leaf,

the juice of picked berries staining

them, rich and red, purple in the shade.

...

I pick with either hand,

held in a cocoon of time,

lost in picking,

Lost in all the tangles of a life.

I eat a few; the juice exploding on my tongue.


David Fraser

7 comments:

  1. I think this is definitely one of my favourites. Is that your hand? :P

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  2. :-) yesterday night when I posted it I got such a craving for that dark rich juice on my tongue. but it's not yet summer. and I don't know for sure, but it seems to me that the berries in the picture are not the edible kind, I might be wrong. I wonder if it could be possible to take such a photo of my hand holding the camera with my other one? hmm. have to experiment with it :-)

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  3. I've been popping over the odd time from swiss lounge and been enjoying your pictures but this one really took my breath away

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  4. I'm glad you tell me this. Actually I also have to confess that I've been at your site, reading your beautiful haiku-poems. I've always been envious of people who master this art of the poetic conciseness, I just cannot. cannot get rid of the words :-)
    oh and what means "the odd time", tell me please :-) I've tried but couldn't make anything out of it, what a shame!

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  5. lol by 'the odd time' I just mean that I've been visiting your blog now and again for a while, these dreamy images keep drawing me back! :)

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  6. thank you! well, I imagined something like this, but I was not sure: is this just your metaphorical way of speaking or is this common usage in English? I couldn't find the expression in any dictionary. sorry to keep pestering you like this, but I like languages and I'm very curious about every such small mystery like this one :-)

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  7. yes it's common usage, not sure if it's just a British thing though

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