Do you remember a time, past summers ago,
We walked along the ragged hedgerows out back,
Picking blackberries? Carefully placing them
Into a large plastic bag. The fields that once
Spread out in green patchwork array
Are now covered over by an extension
Of the housing estate that had sprung up along
The length of Rushey Way; and the thronging
Blackberry bushes are now exiled to the fringe
Of spreading human habitats, their largess
Cut back to the odd mouthful of a juicy gobbet,
If you’re lucky, and manage to get in before
The birds snatch them away in pre-dawn raids.
But I remember that sweet harvest that we gathered
In, a precious memory that we converted
Into a delicious feast, mixing up an apple
And blackberry crumble, placed tentatively
Onto a baking tray, while we waited patiently…
***
Madras Courier originally ran as a broadsheet with a poetry section. It was a time when readers felt comfortable sharing glimpses of their lives through verse. If you have a poem you’d like to submit, do email us at [email protected].
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