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Ratleader
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0 posted 2004-02-03 11:28 PM


Strawberry Temptation

This fruit may not be for me, too costly in the early season.
All the same it's worth the stop at a place where home grown
means grown at home and even a stranger feels it, crossing
this warm gravel to the awning shaded table and the little packages
with strawberries mounding out of them, the air turning moist
where the heavy red perfume reaches out across the yard.

The farmer's daughter is helping out this year.
I have a scant memory of girl sounds by the back counter
where she was stealing berries, lips sauced with the sweetness
and nobody minding if a package went short by one.
It's early still, but the fruit's pretty now and maybe ripe enough;
the scent of it says yes, begs to be tasted. Now she's quiet
just inside the shadow of the doors and she leans, suddenly graceful
across the table making change. Yes, the berries are ripe; they swell,
skin translucent cool cerise touched with a sheen of wet rouge.
I want them; every customer wants them, warm and soft
from the field, the first fruits costly yes, but sweet as a first kiss.

Should I try them now or wait until they're more in season?
The field's small; if I wait they may be gone. That's the choice,
to pay the price now or chance I'll miss them. She bends to lift a basket,
blouse drawn snug by the effort, maybe last year's that she's worn
another time to work in. Pulling the basket close, she spreads her packages
over the counter, smiles the next customer on, her lips pursed, shy.
No need for talk, there's just one offering at this table,
only the amount changes. How much will I take? I'm at the table now,
the fruit so ready I can taste it with my eyes. She looks up expectant,
still a girl of few words where few are needed. I don't ask the price.


[This message has been edited by Ratleader (02-04-2004 12:01 AM).]

© Copyright 2004 Ed Ratledge - All Rights Reserved
Sadelite
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1 posted 2004-02-03 11:35 PM


RatL.,
   This one says, "You naughty, Boy!"  But, oh, soooo wellll written!!!  I see you're keeping those late hours again.  Don't stay up too late-stay well!
           ~Sadelite~
  

Ratleader
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2 posted 2004-02-03 11:45 PM


Naughty?? How could I be naughty when I wrote the draft of it on a church bulletin....right across the pix of Bob Schuller and his upcoming guest, Dr. Laura Schlesinger... We stop there whenever the strawberries are in season -- great stuff, but like I said, expensive this early in the season....

~~(¸¸¸¸ºº>   ~~(¸¸¸¸ºº>  ~~(¸¸ ¸¸ºº>    ~~~(¸¸ER¸¸ºº>
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Mistletoe Angel
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3 posted 2004-02-03 11:58 PM




(smiles) Awwwwwwww, this is sooooooo beautiful, sweet friend, I too love getting fruit and vegetables and kettle corn from farms and farmers markets and what I love to see too is the families themselves and their comfort to their customers almost all the time, yay! (big angel hugs) Even early in the season I'd always happily get fresh foods from themn, yay, God Bless You, we all love you so much! You have such a beautiful heart, sweet Ed, thank you for sharing!



May love and light always shine upon you!

Love,
Noah Eaton

"You'll find something that's enough to keep you
But if the bright lights don't receive you
You should turn yourself around and come back home" MB20

Kahlil
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4 posted 2004-02-04 12:27 PM


ohhh man!  'tis the season.  just look and don't pay the price is all I can say!  :-)
~K~

Kahlil
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5 posted 2004-02-04 12:30 PM


oh gawd, I had to read it again...church bulletin, my ass, hahaha!  ~K~
steavenr
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6 posted 2004-02-04 12:34 PM


I believe, sir, we must be going to different churches
passing shadows
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displaced
7 posted 2004-02-04 02:09 AM



iliana
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8 posted 2004-02-04 03:02 AM


RatL - Now, this poem does not really appeal to my emotions which would be normal I would hope!  But, I will say that you expertly painted a very voluptuous strawberry which many men could not pass up!
Ratleader
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9 posted 2004-02-04 09:58 AM


It was fun to write -- I didn't care who was at the counter after I thought of the image though when I got in there I saw it actually was the farmer's daughter... BTW, the lady in question is in her early to mid 20's, and quite plain...and it was Ratette and my youngest son doing the buying. I just stood in the door of the fruit stand, staring around like an owl at noon and taking notes.....

~~(¸¸¸¸ºº>   ~~(¸¸¸¸ºº>  ~~(¸¸ ¸¸ºº>    ~~~(¸¸ER¸¸ºº>
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suthern
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10 posted 2004-02-04 10:44 AM


This is absolutely delightful... And while I know you're the picture of innocence (cough cough smirk *G*) my wicked mind loved the wonder you wrote (or my wonderful mind loved the wicked you wrote? LOL)

Seriously, my friend... your imagery is so vivid... you captured not just sights but smells and textures so intensely... This is one to savor. *S*

Sunshine
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11 posted 2004-02-04 10:56 AM



This reaches all of the sensations...touch, sight, sound, taste, and runs circles around the counter in delight.

Martie
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12 posted 2004-02-04 10:58 AM


Ed...Such imagery mixed with imagination here, and multi layered!  Excellent writing.
Pilgrimage
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13 posted 2004-02-04 01:19 PM


Oh my word! Behave yourself! But not in poetry, of course, or I'd miss this sort of thing.

Nan (Pilgrim variety)

Dark Angel
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14 posted 2004-02-04 09:04 PM


Well Ed, you amaze me m'friend.
Very very good, the imagery is fascinating.

it's a keeper.

M

Beauty of the world which is soon to perish has two edges, one of laughter and one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder.
(by Virginia Woolf)

garysgirl
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15 posted 2004-02-04 10:20 PM


Ed ??  
BluesSerenade
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By the Seaside
16 posted 2004-02-06 08:42 PM


This was like a picture postcard,
of strawberry shortcake!  
All those images were very mucy alive.

Love reading the way your mind works, Ed~

What a treat!!!

dingusjr
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17 posted 2004-02-09 03:43 PM


OK...this needs to be bumped to the top
one more time....I was like an Owl at noon
just reading it!  Larry

JamesMichael
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18 posted 2004-02-09 04:57 PM


Nice...reminding me of places I used to frequent...and I hope to frequent in the near future...James
serenity blaze
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19 posted 2004-02-09 04:59 PM


A clever write, wonderfully written. Just enough ambiguity here to tantalize--in other words, there's just enough tart to offset the sweet of this fruit.

I enjoyed this very much.

And btw? I hear we have a good crop this year.
http://www.ponchatoula.com/strawberry/

(Ask suthern about this one--I've got a feeling she's been to this one before.)


suthern
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20 posted 2004-02-09 05:17 PM


Who, me??? Go to a festival? Where there's great food, cold beer and incredible music? LOL Would I do such a thing? *batting eyes innocently... but choking on laughter*
Ratleader
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21 posted 2004-02-10 01:01 AM


As soon as that's over, you can head to California for this one.....
http://www.gilroygarlicfestival.com/

~~(¸¸¸¸ºº>   ~~(¸¸¸¸ºº>  ~~(¸¸ ¸¸ºº>    ~~~(¸¸ER¸¸ºº>
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Marge Tindal
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22 posted 2004-02-10 12:34 PM


Ed~
DELIGHTFUL READ !!!!

AND ... check out Florida's Fabulous Strawberry Festival -

http://www.flstrawberryfestival.com/concerts/index.html

It is truly the best FIRST CLASS organized annual event in the state !!

*Huglets*
~*Marge*~

~*When the heart grieves over what it has lost,
the spirit rejoices over what it has left.
- Sufi epigram <))><

noles1@totcon.com

suthern
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23 posted 2004-02-10 12:37 PM


Ratleader: I LIKE garlic! LOL (just not mixed with the strawberries *G*)
icebox
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in the shadows
24 posted 2004-02-10 01:11 PM


I have always loved strawberries (and a few farmers' daughters also).  Once when I was a young man, a long time ago, in a frame of mind where hunger was a driving irresistible force (like needing to eat chocolate icing spooned right out of a can), I encountered a garden stand that was selling 4 quarts of strawberries for a dollar!!!

I learned upon getting home that I am allergic to 4 quarts of strawberries when eaten all in one sitting.  The good news is that I never again had an allergic reaction to strawberries; this confirmed the attending physician's opinion the "only an idiot would eat a gallon of strawberries."

serenity blaze
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25 posted 2004-02-10 04:23 PM


laughing with icebox here!

so that's what's wrong with us creole creatures--we just ate too many strawberries!

...and all this time I thought it was booze and in-breeding

But, if we want to play "one-up" on festivals, try here:
http://www.cajunradio.org/louisianafestivals.html

and no this isn't a comprehensive guide either--I couldn't seem to find one that listed them all--

and as for me, I'm gonna go crawl in my cave again.

It's Mardi Gras again.

sigh. I'm exhausted.

(But the strawberries do sound good...)


VAS
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26 posted 2004-02-10 04:48 PM


I tried so hard to avoid your "Strawberry Temptation" as they are my favorite fruit. But alas, I could not, since so many saw fit to comment, I knew I couldn't allow myself to miss out.

Now, I write poetry in the church pew, but it's about and inspired by the sermon and sometimes laced with what I'm going through at the time.

This does speak of a lustfulness, for fresh, ripe fruit...the little asides, helping us see all you saw, the blouse being pulled taut from her leaning for the berries does invite conjecture.

Well written!!

Whether on the shoal or on the shore,
I'll seek the lighthouse evermore.

muted
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Elapsing, Eclipsing, Evolving
27 posted 2004-02-10 09:03 PM


what can i say?
mmmm....luscious

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