Blackberry Season

I reach for 

another blackberry,

thorn in my thumb.

---

Grabbing despite thorns,

I eat a blackberry,

hot from the sun. 

At Point Pinole (Not Haiku)

eucalyptus

wild fennel 

dirt

dust 

all that dead grass 

wind &

the Bay --

she plods slowly, smelling them all

& sometimes stooping as far down as she can

to pick & eat a ripe blackberry off the brambles. 

Cold August morning...

Cold August morning--

overgrown, thorny bushes

promise blackberries.

Don’t tug / Summer heat / To fill a pie / Hopeful

Don’t tug!
Like everything else,
blackberries
come off their vines easily
when they are ready.

—-

Summer heat—
Dandelions stare at the sun
unharmed.

—-

To fill a pie, use
both ripe and unripe berries.
As in the world,
sweet and sour are needed
for the desired taste.

I’m not happy with this one. It needs work. Too didactic & not natural.
—

Hopeful,
a bee hovers over
a glass of lemonade.

Finally wrote something.

Cold June rain
& disappointing peaches...
Where are my wool socks?

-----

Bright white Summer sun,
pink-white blackberry flowers--
no fruit yet.

-----

Walking downhill,
assessing neighbors' yards,
smelling their roses.

Senryu or Haiku? And what's Tanka?

After you read the link, you'll understand why I often think I should have named this blog "Sorta Kinda Senryu." But, as is obvious from reading my earlier writing, I didn't really know what Haiku were, let alone Senryu. And I'd heard of Tanka before, but never tried to write one. I've only written a couple. Here's one I wrote this morning.

Blackberry flowers, 
white & delicate in the sun; 
milk thistle purple 
fringe on the green, thorny stalk; 
nothing ripe yet.

https://akitahaiku.com/what-are-haiku-senryu-and-tanka/

I love my neighbors' blackberry bushes.

Thorny green branches - - 
white flowers, but no berries. 
The blackbirds will wait.

- - - - - - - - -

Thorny branches stray 
over the old gray fence - - 
no blackberries yet.

First Conversation with the Blackbird

Blackbird, I warn you:
those blackberries are still tart!
I check them daily.