Welcome to where I am, where my kitchen's always messy, a pot's (or a poet) always about to boil over, a dog is always begging to be fed. Drafts of poems on the counter. Windows filled with leaves. Wind. Clouds moving over the mountains. If you like poetry, books, and music--especially dog howls when a siren unwinds down the hill-- you'll like it here.


MY NEW AUTHOR'S SITE, KATHRYNSTRIPLINGBYER.COM, THAT I MYSELF SET UP THROUGH WEEBLY.COM, IS NOW UP. I HAD FUN CREATING THIS SITE AND WOULD RECOMMEND WEEBLY.COM TO ANYONE INTERESTED IN SETTING UP A WEBSITE. I INVITE YOU TO VISIT MY NEW SITE TO KEEP UP WITH EVENTS RELATED TO MY NEW BOOK.


MY NC POET LAUREATE BLOG, MY LAUREATE'S LASSO, WILL REMAIN UP AS AN ARCHIVE OF NC POETS, GRADES K-INFINITY! I INVITE YOU TO VISIT WHEN YOU FEEL THE NEED TO READ SOME GOOD POEMS.

VISIT MY NEW BLOG, MOUNTAIN WOMAN, WHERE YOU WILL FIND UPDATES ON WHAT'S HAPPENING IN MY KITCHEN, IN THE ENVIRONMENT, IN MY IMAGINATION, IN MY GARDEN, AND AMONG MY MOUNTAIN WOMEN FRIENDS.




Wednesday, September 29, 2010

RIPE, from Black Shawl


RIPE



Dead end.
This dirt road
at daybreak.

One window
burns yellow
as fruit flesh.

The gauze
clutch of spider webs
almost

but not quite
shines. Where is the sun?
Where the woman who lately leaned

over her wash basin,
daring the cold water
splash her eyes shut?

She does
not answer
anyone’s name.

Have her feet
come unstuck
from the kitchen floor

where she stood
most of last
night at her stove

spinning
wild berry
juice into

length upon
length of the sweetest
black thread?

(from my BLACK SHAWL, LSU Press, 1992)

I've been cleaning out old computer files and came across my Black Shawl backup poems, among them this poem. I immediately thought of our elderberry bush, with its several bouquets of deep purple berries. Elderberry jelly? Yes, I've made that. Doesn't compare to blackberry, though, which is what I was thinking about when I wrote this.

3 comments:

Nancy Simpson said...

Kay, This is a delicious poem. I've had two large Elderberry clusters that have been begging me to do something with them. Honestly, It is the first summer
I've ever seen them growing here. It took a while for me to identify them. I am sorry now they were not saved. How about Elderberry wine? Is there a recipe?

Vicki Lane said...

Lovely -- spinning that thread...

Kathryn Stripling Byer said...

Nancy, I'm sure there's a recipe for elderberry wine. I'll be posting a recipe for elderberry sauce I used on pork chops just a little while back.
Vicki, I remember my grandmother spinning the thread while stirring mayhaw jelly, or rather juice. It had to spin a thread to signal it was ready. I could never quite get the touch for it.