Sweet Things and Women

Cover picture for 1993 Raspberry Jam cassette

It’s gardening time here in North Saanich on top of other commitments and we are falling behind. A month has gone by since I last put together a post – not good – so here are three short, somewhat related poems written over a 36 year time span. The image, drawn by the young daughter of a friend, is on the cover of a 1993 cassette tape put out by our band of that time, Raspberry Jam (music you can spread around).

Restaurant Raspberries

The waitress brings neat omelettes,
triangles of toast,
and jam, sealed in plastic doses.
I see your dark hair
waving among the raspberries,
your fingers red with juice,
dancing in a suppertime sun.
Moving out from you,
I have become a ghost
nourished by shadows.

(November, 1978)

******************************************************************************************

Easter Sunday, 2014

You are standing at the kitchen window
trimly dressed for church,
attending to a thing you hold
hidden from my view.
I confess I do enjoy
such voyeuristic moments when
the multitasking of your tidy ways
is calmed while I am looking.
Then I see that you are licking
syrup that your fingers wiped
from the bottom of the jug.
Oh, my sticky Honey Bear!

(April 20, 2014)

*******************************************************************************************

Blackberries

There’s a woman in the hedgerow
stretching overhead to reach the fruit.
Her lips and hands are stained with juice.
Her T-shirt torn, its hem
rides above her swollen belly,
grown to ripeness, you might say.
Her man holds out the basket
in the useless way men have
assisting women driven by
the unrelenting calls of life.
Helplessly he understands
it was not his to give;
her body snatched the seed away
as he lay spent and stupid.
Today he holds a basket,
tomorrow a child.
Clueless.

(September 2013)

*****************************************************************************************

3 thoughts on “Sweet Things and Women

  1. Really nice to read these poems Dad.

    Here’s the song list from that Raspberry Jam recording. I have the tape, and also found the list online:

    A1 All Go Home In The Morning
    Written-By – Marc Taylor

    A2 Like A Music Box
    Written-By – George MacDonald

    A3 Innocent Bystander
    Written-By – George MacDonald

    A4 Satisfied Mind
    Written-By – Jack Rhodes, Red Hayes

    A5 Lake Of The Cagoma
    Written-By – Traditional

    A6 Sweet Bird Of Youth
    Written-By – Dave Mallet

    A7 Westlin Winds
    Written-By – Robert Burns

    B1 I Wish It Would Rain
    Written-By – Nanci Griffith

    B2 Red Squirrel
    Written-By – George MacDonald

    B3 Log Driver’s Waltz
    Written-By – Wade Hemsworth

    B4 Making Believe
    Written-By – Jimmy Work

    B5 Memory’s On Fire
    Written-By – George MacDonald

    B6 North Star Shoal
    Written-By – George MacDonald

    B7 The Rider (for Greg Curnoe)
    Written-By – Farrell Boyce

    Distributed By – Rj Enterprises
    Mastered At – Greendoor Recording

    Credits

    Arranged By, Producer – Raspberry Jam
    Artwork – Heather Harrison
    Bass – Carl Jennings (3) (tracks: A3, A4, B2, B6), Doug Moverley
    Engineer, Mixed By – Steve Didemus
    Fiddle – Peter Kuhn
    Piano – Susan Lawrence
    Vocals – Joanne Dear, Penny Boyce
    Vocals, Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin, Accordion – Farrell Boyce
    Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica, Whistle – George MacDonald

    Notes
    “The performances on this tape were recorded live and mixed in real-time to two tracks on digital audio tape.”
    “Thanks to all the fans who supported the band by attending the live recording sessions between November 1992 and April 1993”

    https://www.discogs.com/Raspberry-Jam-Innocent-Bystanders/release/10457959

    Like

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