Blackberries Poem

       In this poem Yusef  Komunyakaa  is showing the reader how his life as a child who worked in the field picking blackberries felt when he was faced with the unkind looks from rich children who were passing in a car. Before he saw them, he was enjoying the beauty of nature that he experienced while working in the field. Although he enjoyed the work, he realizes even as a child that it was important to receive money for his family’s survival. After the children look down on him, some of the joy leaves him and he now begins to focus on the blackberries' thorns that hurt his fingers. The writer also gives us more details and images about the people who pick the blackberries and how the blackberries’ colors were appear on their hands like a “thief’s before a police blotter.”  He described how they wake up early to do their jobs that they enjoy with the stain still on their hands. He mentioned that he couldn't forget the smell of the blackberries and that he was carrying a lime-covered basket. He enjoyed eating them with one hand, but the other hand was a little bit busy picking them and filling his gallon pale with them. He continues by describing the taste of the blackberries and was so involved with his job of picking them that he "ate the mythology, or in other words, “devoured" all the old stories connected with blackberries.

       In the third stanza, Komunyaka suggests that the need that one has for forgiveness can be compared with his need to accept this mythology of blackberries. Also in this stanza the poet mentions some specific details about his surroundings. His dog Spot is watching the blue jays and thrashers, while mud frogs are hiding from the bright daylight. On hours later, he reaches the city Limits, carrying a “ gleaming can” of berries in each hand.

       In the fourth stanza “limboed between worlds” may refer to the balance between the worlds of the rich and the poor. He enjoyed his country job, but is also aware of the “dollar” or money he will get when he sells the berries in the city. As a blue car approaches him he says it “made me sweat. This probably means that were going to possibly stop beside him and this happens. A girl and a boy “smirk” at describes how much he was feeling shamed from the children. The phrase” winter time crawled out of the windows” could refer to the ear’s air-conditioning or it could be the cold feeling that he got from the unkind looks  to the children. Suddenly he recalls his fingers that burned with the thorns that are among the blackberries. Also he mentioned that the blackberries were too ripe to touch. He had been happy picking bb, but the unpleasant experience with the children made him think of the hardships on “thorns” that came with his job. Also, it could mean that the world of the rich was too hard for a poor person to reach on” touch.”