Dewberries
dew
berries
tangy-sweet
inside my mouth,
juices dripping down
my chin and front of shirt
until it is hard to tell
me from the violet berries.
i pick them, and they prick me right back
as i pluck ripe fruits from protective vines
This is type of poetry is called an etheree, introduced to me by fellow blogger and reader, Shoreacres, who writes a brilliant blog of her own. Follow the link, and you will see her most recent etheree.
An etheree consists of 10 lines of poetry, and each line exhibits that number of syllables. You will notice that line one has one syllable, line two has two, and so on. You can even compose a reverse etheree starting with 10 syllables. Haven’t done that yet, but I intend to.
I penned one about Pyrates back in March, but I will save it for next year’s Pyrate Day, if I remember, that is.
I hope y’all are enjoying this beautiful spring weather. At least it has been gorgeous down here the past few days. This past week has been a very eventful one, and as soon as I have a few hours at my desk, I will post a recap with photos of the goings on down the bayou.
Enjoy the weather, seize the day!
BW
Nicely done – both the poem and the delicious macro shot o’ the berry!
We’re still waiting for leaves on the confused trees here, though we suddenly have a daffodil in the middle o’ the yard; no doubt thanks to our industrious, furry residents – the Squirrels!
Many thanks. I find composing etherees challenging and rewarding, which sounds a little weird and rather word nerdy, but that’s ok. I’ve always been a little different like that. Daffodils grow from bulbs in the spring, so it would be time for them to be blooming up there right now? But you’re saying it’s a stray? In the gardening world, that’s called “naturalized”!!! 🙂
The Squirrels tend to bury all sorts o’ things that they forget…and then they grow the following Spring…usually in odd locations!
I’ll try again. I came back to see if there were any new replies only to find out mine wasn’t there from earlier today.
Poetry is not my forte, but dew berries sure are. I used to cringe in school when we studied poetry. My teachers either didn’t understand it either or they really liked me. Somehow I passed with B’s. I think the rhymes tipped the scale. My oldest son is (or was) very good at writing this type of poetry. I don’t know if he has written anything since college.
Writing an etheree is an exercise in challenging the brain for me. I find myself writing them mentally as I go about my day, like this one while picking berries this past weekend. I don’t think one has to be a fan of poetry to appreciate it. Take the challenge and see if you can compose one. I bet you’ll be surprised that you enjoyed the challenge and the result! Carry on!!!
Mom has a fence lined with dewberry plants that are beginning to ripen. She is really not happy about her lack of garden this year. She has broken her arm twice since the 17th of Feb. trying to garden/work in yard and still expected us to till up three plots for her. Don’t tell her but, we sabotaged her tiller. My brother tilled up one 10’x10′ spot for her with a little row tiller so she could have some tomatoes and a couple of squash plants and her asparagus, onions and spinach is coming up voluntary. Should be enough to keep her busy.
Cammy, the berries are not very flavorful this year, probably due to lack of rain. I hope hers are better than ours. Sorry about your mom’s broken arm problems, but I admire that she keeps on pushing! hopefully, a small garden will be better to her than no garden at all. What a lady!
berry nice. I dabble in poetry but toss most of it.
I know you do, so I thought you might enjoy my stab at this type. Keep on fishing, Blu!
Look at you! We can combine your dewberry etheree and my ice cream etheree and have ourselves a poetry party.
That’s one reason I like etherees, too. I can carry them around in my head. And sometimes, I’ll get just a line or two, let them sit, and then discover a few weeks later that they’ve been rearranging themselves in my subconscious. They’re fun, no question. I really like this one.
That photo’s delicious, too. It reminded me I still have some black raspberries in the freezer and need to use them up before the new crop comes in. It’s cobbler time, for sure.
Well, my dear, since you are my etheree mentor, your words are like a gold star on a class paper!!! I can’t help but wonder why I wasn’t exposed to these fun gems in high school or college English courses, in which I excelled. But now my eyes have been opened, and I do so enjoy them! And of course, your blog keeps me inspired. Our dewberries don’t have much flavor this year, probably due to long winter and lack of rain, which makes me glad I jarred up some cobbler filling last year and will use the last two jars to make my oldest son a birthday cobbler soon!