two fruity Barbara Crooker poems (+ a summer blog break)

~ jama

With the Summer Solstice sliding in next week, thought I’d share a couple of juicy poems from Barbara Crooker’s latest book, Slow Wreckage (Grayson Books, 2024).

“Velvet Cherries in Crystal” by Tanya Hamilton.

Though her central theme for this collection is aging, loss and grief (her poems will especially resonate with baby boomers), she balances the inevitable with hope and gratitude for those luminous moments of clarity and startling beauty that occur when we take the time to be fully present.

“Still Life with Raspberries in a Basket” by William Hammer (1863).

There are upsides to being ‘of a ripe old age’ — not the least of which is being able to enjoy summer’s generous bounty of sweet, juicy, sun-ripened fruit.

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“Red and Black Plums” by Robert Papp
PLUM

Thumbprint of the moon,
blush of the summer sky.
A rim of sweetness
hemmed in damask.
Bruise-blue, ruby red,
autumn gold; the full
spectrum of sugar.  
The thrum of a tenor sax.
You brood on the tree,
biding your time.
If we're lucky, we'll 
find you whole, oval,
unstung by wasps, 
ungnawed by squirrels.
You will fill
a child's palm.
Hot juice
of an August night,
a gulp of dark wine.
A taste 
that winter,
which we know
is coming,
cannot erase.

Barbara: “Plum” came from both our terrible plum crop (we planted a little orchard when my husband retired (2 apples, 2 pears, 2 plums, 2 peaches)) and from the organic plums I bought at a local farm stand (Eagle Point).  So it’s a combination love poem to the fruit and also to the luscious “um” sounds I sprinkled throughout (including, or especially, summer) . . .

“Plum Tree” by Maria Petelina.

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“Cherries Are Ripe in Our Garden” by Tatjana Auschew.
U PICK

Hot July morning, sun a burner left on high. Raspberries,
beveled treasures; sour pie cherries, ruby globes, filling 
the cardboard picking box.  I’m by myself, listening to the chatter
of my neighbors in adjoining rows.  Some of us are up on ladders; 
some are down in the brambles and briars. We all think we’re
in high heaven, after the long winter, late cold spring.  If this 
were a protest march, would a few be carrying opposite signs,
shouting invectives?  Maybe so, but we’re here in this small
orchard, sharing recipes, tips on preserves, how to make
a good pie.  We cradle our baskets as if they contain unruly jewels.
And then we go our separate ways, licked by the thick tongue
of the sun, to bring some sweetness to our families,
blinking our blind eyes in the multilingual light.

Barbara: “U Pick” (I just read this one at a local winery yesterday (launch reading for SLOW WRECKAGE); everyone recognized where it was set, which is Schmidt’s Berry Farm (New Tripoli, PA)).  Besides strawberries, which they are known for, Schmidt’s also lets you pick blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and cherries (both sweet and pie cherries).  There’s always such a gap in time between writing a poem and having it appear in a book—I’m thinking this poem is 5-10 years old, but the division I was referencing in this country has only gotten worse.  I think food (and art) are places where we can all recognize the vulnerable human beings we all are, and also our need for each other—we’re all together on this bus!

“Cherries” by Beth Bathe (2019).

♥️ Many thanks to Barbara for permission to share these poems, and for providing a little backstory for each. 🍒

via George Schmidt Berry Farm.

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SLOW WRECKAGE
by Barbara Crooker
published by Grayson Books, January 2024
Poetry Collection, 106 pp.

Amazon
Bookshop
Grayson Books

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Lovely and talented Denise Krebs is hosting the Roundup at Dare to Care. Be sure to check out the full menu of poetic goodness being shared around the blogosphere this week!

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😎 SUMMER BLOG BREAK 🌻

Can’t believe it’s time once again to put the soup on the back burner and switch gears. This summer, I’m determined to make progress with my plans to downsize, always amazed by how much STUFF one can accumulate in 45 years of marriage and 25 years in this house.

Clothes are the easiest to give away — outdated, doesn’t fit, out the door. File cabinets are the most tedious and time consuming to deal with (I still have every single royalty statement I’ve ever received – 30+ years worth, and loads of story drafts, etc.). The shredder is going to have a BIG feast.

And when you’re a collector (watches, china, teapots, books, teddy bears, Christmas ornaments, mugs, miscellaneous toys), there’s a sentimental factor that makes it even more challenging. I still have foot lockers in the basement full of bears that haven’t been opened since we moved here. Sigh. I’m hoping my practical sense triumphs over my emotions.

In any case, we wish you all a good summer. Safe travels, happy reading, delicious eating, lots of relaxing and enjoying what you love most. May all your creative endeavors bear fruit. And may you eat lots of PIE PIE PIE. See you after Labor Day!

🍒 HAPPY SUMMER! 🍒

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*Copyright © 2024 Jama Rattigan of Jama’s Alphabet Soup. All rights reserved.

29 thoughts on “two fruity Barbara Crooker poems (+ a summer blog break)”

  1. What a welcome, with two cats to start us off – and a feast of juicy fruits. Especially that first poem, that was plum full of goodness. So many relatable (yet unexpected) descriptions. Thanks for sharing, Jama – and have a wonderful summer break!

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  2. Jama, enjoy a well deserved summer. I hear you on downsizing. I’m in the same boat. I take it in stages and sometimes limit myself with a timer to a specific time…and when the time beeps, I stop. It helps with that overwhelmed feeling. I have enjoyed this past season of your blog so very much. You have great content and curation. Thanks so much for the piece de resistance–the Barbara Crooker poems–and new book. I’m drooling over those unruly jewels. Happy Summer! I look forward to seeing you back in the Fall.

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    1. I may try your timer idea! Good suggestion 🙂 Thanks for reading and commenting so faithfully, Linda. I’m looking forward to some leisurely summer reading — books I don’t have to review.

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  3. Thank you for this lovely post. I must say, even though summer is my least favorite season, I do love all its bounty of fruit! And, who doesn’t love pie; I vote for cherry.🍒🍒🍒I am also cleaning out. Clothes are going to St Mary’s Clothes drive in Brooklyn, and books to Little Free Libraries all over NY and NJ! I want to wish you a cool and cozy summer with lots of reading and tons of relaxing! If I may make a recommendation, I’ve read several Freya Sampson feel good books recently which I think you would love, and a new Jenny Colgan book is coming out soon. I love “Reader Advisory “. You can take the girl out of the library, but you can’t take the library out if the girl! Ciao until September. 🍂🍁🍁🍂

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    1. Thanks for the Freya Sampson tip!! I’ll definitely look for her books. I try to keep track of Jenny Colgan books too. Have you read The Lost Bookshop? It’s a couple of years old, but I just recently got around to it. Magical! Have a great summer, Joanne!

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  4. It is interesting what she wrote about the poem being ten years old, and still a bit of a flurry of protest over, I wonder what! I picked peaches one summer when visiting an aunt, a tough task but, as Barbara wrote, a camaraderie like no other. Thank you for both poems “picked” just for us, Jama. I am working my way through papers, etc., too, such a task! Best of luck saying goodbye & enjoy the other wonderful parts of summer, too, like pie!

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    1. It’s amazing how paper can accumulate, seemingly overnight. Sneaky and so quiet. I love peaches and always look forward to peach pie. Hope you have a fruity summer!

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  5. Loved this, Jama–so much to think about and to treasure! Thank you for this–and I will miss you during your well-deserved hiatus. Best wishes for your clearing out–I am so there! Much aloha!

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  6. Happy almost summer, Jama! Thanks for the ripe & juicy poems–the perfect precursor to some strawberry picking for my weekend agenda!

    Good luck with the paring and sorting of your treasures! A hard task, but a satisfying one too (once it’s done!)

    I hope your summer is a restful and relaxing one!

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    1. You’re right — it always feels so good to get rid of stuff. You just feel lighter. Hard part is getting started and keeping motivated.

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  7. Jama, what fun it was to read Barbara’s poems and her commentary about them. I love the way living three dimensionally (as I read in a Wendell Berry poem this week) picking fruit takes out some of the protest / shouting invectives that so often happens online these days. We can all pick fruit in peace and enjoy the sweetness that takes us through a cold winter. That was my favorite poem today, but I enjoyed “Plums” too. Here’s to much success for you as you clean up and downsize this summer! We’ll look forward to seeing you in the fall.

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  8. Love the Crooker poems, and your many gorgeous fruit images! I have one little raspberry bush that is just ripening its lovely fruit. Looking forward to tasting those little gems. And last week I found a farm stand that had wonderful strawberries, the kind that are tender and aromatic. I made strawberry rhubarb jam! I haven’t made jam in years, and it does bring a big smile. Enjoy your summer. I need to do the downsizing thing also. Good luck with it.

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    1. Your strawberry rhubarb jam sounds yummy. Nothing like farm market (or homegrown) produce. Lucky you to have a raspberry bush. Happy Summer!

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  9. As I know I have mentioned, I love pie, so your pie pictures are hitting the spot. “Velvet cherries in crystal” is amazing, and Barbara Crooker always serves up food for thought. Good luck with your downsizing, Jama! It can be hard letting go, but it’s very uplifting to get rid of things.

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    1. You’re so right. Letting go can be challenging — but it does have its rewards. Glad you liked Barbara’s poems and the art.

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  10. Jama, I wish you lightness as you consider all that you must part with. And thank you for sharing Crocker’s Plum: “…A taste that winter, which we know is coming, cannot erase…” A great way to think about memories perhaps? Enjoy your summer!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks for your good wishes. I like the idea of summer sweetness lingering in our taste buds through the dark months. Just like fond memories.

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  11. Yum what a delicious post Jama, I love 💙 berries, cherries! What a juicy opening line in Crooker’s poem “Thumbprint of the moon!” Happy summer downsizing–such a good feeling when you’ve cleared away some, though hard and time consuming. Looking forward to your return at summer’s end, thanks!

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    1. I always look forward to summer cherries. And I also love “thumbprint of the moon.” 🙂 Hope you have a fabulous summer, Michelle. And thanks so much for reading and commenting here regularly.

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  12. I wish you luck with your downsizing and hope some lovely memories come your way as you’re clearing out.

    Your blog is one of my favorite things to read on the internet. It is so inspiring, full of life, color and fun.

    Have wonderful summer you most certainly deserve some downtime.

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    1. Thanks so much for the encouragement and kind words, Kathy! You’re right about there being an upside to downsizing — memories! It’s fun to go through boxes and “discover” stuff you’d forgotten you have, or come across items you hadn’t seen for awhile which remind you of good times. Hope you have a nice summer!

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  13. Oh, I have to get this new collection from Barbara Crooker. I just adore her. Thanks for the luscious taste of the new book.

    Re. the sorting and downsizing, I’m here with you. After moving my parents a few times in the last year, then losing them, and sorting through all their things, I am determined to lighten the load of stuff at my own house.

    I hear you on the filing cabinets! We’ve been in this house for 20 years, and we’ve accumulated a LOT. The basement flooding forced me to get rid of some things (goodbye to some of my girls’ old stuffed animals that were still being stored down there!) but I’m already feeling lighter with all my Swedish death cleaning.

    My best encouragement: Photos are your friend. It’s much easier to let go of something when I’ve intentionally taken a picture of it. Mine pics are still in the cloud (and that cloud is growing, lol) but you could even make a photo book of some things you love but chose to give away. The photo trick has been helping me, anyway! I started that when my girls were little: “We’ll take a picture of this before we donate it, okay?” 🙂 Hope it helps you too. xo

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    1. Appreciate your encouragement and downsizing tips, Karen. I do like the idea of photographing items before donating them — a friend suggested this years ago when she had to move, but now since I’m actually trying to pare down my belongings it makes even more sense. Nice to know you did this with your girls.

      I feel the same way as you do about Barbara’s poetry. I automatically purchase every new collection she publishes. Never disappointed!

      Enjoy your summer!

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