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)
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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)
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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)
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Poems, Pictures and Stories 
Thank you Farrell
Garth
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Thanks for noticing, Garth.
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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
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