Go Pick Some Berries

Did I mention that my host, Marilou, lives in a redwood forest? I might have shown you a photo or two. I took more today. And I learned a bit from Marilou about these gigantic Sequoias. The specimens in her yard are not as big as the ones in the national forest, but they impress the heck out of little ol' me.



And it's berry-picking time! We've picked blackberries and thimbleberries and blueberries until I am about picked out. I'm ready for the cobbler.

This is Marilou, sister of my good friend Kali, in Asheville.

Picking Berries

What’s a thimbleberry, I ask?
There, she says, the bright red one.
I reach
Grab too hard
It disintegrates into a bloody pulp
Brighter
Sweeter than blood
But just as pleasing.
Tastes like Lik-M-Aid, she says,
That we used to eat as a kid?
Oh yeah…
But I don’t tell her how
My friend Betty and I
Used to steal it from the corner grocery,
Slip the little flat packets
Down the front of our shorts
And walk out.
Later up in my bedroom,
We took off our training bras
And took turns
Pretending to be the man,
Our bright pink Lik-M-Aid
Lips and tongues
Encircling each other’s
Thimbles.

August 9, 2009
Fort Bragg, California

This is view from my window. So lush. So green. So cool. So peaceful.