Erica Jong is a favourite poet of mine, and much as I wanted to post one of her poems about sex for last week's Poetry Thursday assignment, I chickened out after about 30 minutes and took it down ... she's explicit and delicious but I feared for those unfamiliar with her beautiful, bold writings.
This week's Poetry Thursday assignment is a poem about food ... and as Erica has poems for every occasion, I thought I would share something sweeter from her.
Her poems are here
It begins like this:
The Raspberries in My Driveway
Nature will bear the closest inspection . She invites us to lay our eyes level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.
-Thoreau
The raspberries
in my driveway
have always
been here
(for the whole eleven years
I have owned
but have not owned
this house),
yet
I have never
tasted them
before.
Always on a plane.
Always in the arms
of man, not God,
always too busy,
too fretful,
too worried
to see
that all along
my driveway
are red, red raspberries
for me to taste ...
You can read the poem in its entirety here .
6 comments:
This reminds me of a poem I wrote about the blackberries that grew in the strip between my driveway and my neighbor's yard in a house I rented in Dedham, MA many years ago.
I'm not familiar with Erica Jong's poetry, so thank you for introducing me to it.
HI,WW it was a lovely poem. At first I thought you had written these words. It made me think of my child hood and picking berries for my Nanna's rapsberry and rhubarb pies.
Please be safe as you travel my friend. The world has gone crazy.
bd
I like this poem - and raspberries! Thoreau's quote is brilliant.
Hi ljcohen ... I wish I had written this poem. I do like it. I'm happy to introduce Erica to people ... she's a superb writer.
Thank you beloved dreamer ... rhubarb, we grew up loving that, I miss it here. And thank you for your 'travel safe' ... I did appreciate it.
Yes travel safe ... Erica Jong is more known for her Fear of Flying than her poetry i guess ... but they look worth checkin' out! (Just quietly - I think you could write poetry as good ;)
Hey chiefbiscuit... thank you :)
I read her books first, and discovered her poetry later ... and loved it.
Did you find her 'Fear of Fifty'? I read it a few years ago and loved it. It's written more for writers I suspect so you might love it :)
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