Food Poetry Friday: October Berries

I haven't participated in Poetry Friday for awhile, but today, looking out at the grey, this poem I wrote a few years ago seems right. This week Poetry Friday is hosted by Carol's Corner.

If you are a berry picker, as I am, you know about October berries. Most left on the vines are shrivelled, bug-eaten, or moldy. But some look plump and ripe like August berries. You pick one, peer at it closely to make sure you didn't miss a nasty bit, and if it checks out, you pop it in your mouth.

How sour it is! October berries were green in August, and never really ripened properly. Still. This will be the last berry you pick until next summer.

October Berries
by Julie Reinhardt

August is the time to find
Juicy berries on the vine
Until your mouth is purple and
You’ve red stained fingers on each hand

But now it is October, yet
I hunt for berries, cold and wet
I pick as if they were like gold
These left behind, fruit not sold

For though they are not plump and sweet
As August berries that I eat
October berries are the last
Until next August comes to pass