Blackberry Vines at the Bandon Marsh

 

950.

Blackberry Stained Hands

Bullards Beach State Park
Bandon Marsh NWR
     Bandon, Oregon
     August 2025

 

 

Blackberry vines
     lined the edge
of the dry Bandon Marsh;
     not one single cloud
flying in the sky

Picking wild blackberries
along the Bandon Marsh;
seagulls splash dive
     in and out of the Coquille;
east of the 101 bridge.

Families picking
          wild blackberries
     for fresh pies;
slight breeze
across Bandon Marsh.

          hand picked
     fresh ripe berries
hand-fulls of black round morsels
     chugged down
sweet tart summer sun

plucking blackberries
sucking juice
fingers in my mouth—
humming
"numanumanumanuma"

blackberry juice
    dripping from my mouth
        down my shirt—
sweet memories
on the Tongue of the Mind

 

 

[Bandon, Oregon]