They left my hands like a printer’s
Or thief’s before a police blotter
& pulled me into early morning’s
Terrestrial sweetness, so thick
The damp ground was consecrated
Where they fell among a garland of thorns.
Although I could smell old lime-covered
History, at ten I’d still hold out my hands
& berries fell into them. Eating from one
& filling a half gallon with the other,
I ate the mythology & dreamt
Of pies & cobbler, almost
Needful as forgiveness. My bird dog Spot
Eyed blue jays & thrashers. The mud frogs
In rich blackness, hid from daylight.
An hour later, beside City Limits Road
I balanced a gleaming can in each hand,
Limboed between worlds, repeating one dollar.
The big blue car made me sweat.
Wintertime crawled out of the windows.
When I leaned closer I saw the boy
& girl my age, in the wide back seat
Smirking, & it was then I remembered my fingers
Burning with thorns among berries too ripe to touch.
Link to Komunyakaa reading “Blackberries” himself https://www.ibiblio.org/ipa/audio/komunyakaa/blackberries.mp3
A Brief Analysis
In “Blackberries,” Yusef Komunyakaa initially captures the joys of a ten-year-old boy when picking the fruit in the early morning. He vividly describes the scenery and beauty of this sight and references the deep stain of the boy’s hands as he picks the fruit, comparing them to the inking of a printer. The boy is eating the berries as they fall into his hands with bliss and catching the remainder in the basket. The boy’s bliss lasted for but an hour, after which he was tasked with selling his basket of berries in one-dollar cans. He traveled from place to place trying to sell these berries and happens upon a big blue car. The boy feels discomfort at the sight of this car, and when the windows roll down, the AC and clear wealth gap between the boy and the object of his attention settles. He sees a boy and girl of similar age to his in the back seat mocking him and feels embarrassed, remembering instead the thorns pricking him in the morning instead of the bliss he once felt.
Yusef Komunyakaa: A Brief Overview 