“Raspberries in my Driveway” by Erica Jong

On By Christina's WordsIn Poetry

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.

Shiny and red,
without hairs—
unlike the berries
from the market.
Little jewels—
I share them
with the birds!

On one perches
a tiny green insect.
I blow her off.
She flies!
I burst the raspberry
upon my tongue.

In my solitude
I commune
with raspberries,
with grasses,
with the world.

The world was always
there before,
but where
was I?

Ah raspberry—
if you are so beautiful
upon my ready tongue,
imagine
what wonders
lie in store
for me!

“Raspberries in my Driveway” by Erica Jong from Becoming Light. © Harper Perennial, 1991.

6 thoughts on ““Raspberries in my Driveway” by Erica Jong”

    1. Hi Anne, thank you for your very kind note. Oh I’m just a packrat of poems. If I see or read one that resonates, I bookmark mark it. Then as I browse for poems to post I sense which one speaks to me that day or what I feel may speak to someone else, and I choose that for the day. Sometimes I’ll spend a day setting up future postings with favorite poems or past poems to repost. Usually they’re just poems I love and want to remember.

      I’m flattered and fortunate that so many others enjoy them too. ❤️

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Naida Hyde

    Picking raspberries was always a sacred early morning experience when i lived in the country. Lovely poem. thank you for this perfect choice for this time of solitude.

    Liked by 1 person

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