which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well
in the silent, startled, icy, black language
of blackberry-eating in late September.Poem Summary
Lines 1–2
‘‘Blackberry Eating’’ opens with a simple declara-
tive statement expressing the speaker’s enjoyment
of eating blackberries, which he does in late Sep-
tember, when the berries are ripe. (The speaker
seems much like the poet himself.) The emotion
expressed is love for the blackberries and for the
season. The first sentence establishes that the
action takes place in autumn, traditionally a time
of harvest and preparation for the winter ahead.
This is also a time of transition and change, the
moving from one season to the next, which brings
new opportunities, even as the current world is
changing. The colder weather causes the black-
berries to be icy when the speaker tastes them.
Lines 3–4
In line 3, the speaker explains that he particu-
larly loves blackberries for breakfast. He loves
blackberries so much that he eats his breakfast
standing in the blackberry patch. Once again,
the poet describes eating, but it is linked to the
same love that motivates the speaker’s excursion
to pick blackberries. The early morning con-
sumption of blackberries will carry the speaker
through the day. The stalks have thorns, which
prick the fingers. The prickly stalks and the risk
of being wounded is the price to be paid for
picking blackberries. The punishment that the
blackberries must inflict is the price for their
exquisite beauty and taste. It is the enjoyment
of the moment that matters.
Lines 5–6
The discussion of line 4 is continued on line 5.
The thorns are the blackberry’s punishment for
knowing too much about the magic required to
create such delectable flavor, which seduces
would-be blackberry eaters into risking contact
with the prickly stalks. These lines hint at the
Fall in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve
are punished for having obtained forbidden
knowledge. Like Adam and Eve, the blackberry
stalks are punished for knowing what should not
be known. That this knowledge is expressed in
terms of magic suggests that the possessing of
this knowledge is especially dangerous for the
stalks. In line 6, the speaker completes the pre-
vious line. The sorcery committed by the plant is
the creation of blackberries.Lines 7–8
The speaker again comments that he eats his
breakfast while standing in the blackberry
patch. He cannot resist the berries and eats them
as he picks them. He is unable to resist their lure
and as he raises the stalks, the berries practically
fall into his mouth unbidden. However, the action
is not complete. The berries do not quite fall in his
mouth of their own accord, and thus for the
berries to be eaten, an action is still required.
The speaker must place the blackberries in his
mouth. Line 8 concludes the octave. In the sestet
that follows, readers learn that the ripe blackber-
ries are like certain juicy words.Lines 9–10
The sestet begins with a shift to the complimentary
idea. The eating of blackberries gives way to theMEDIA
ADAPTATIONSThe Poetry Voice of Galway Kinnellis a sixty-
minute audio recording by Caedmon Audio,
which includes selections fromBook of Night-
mares(1983).
Galway Kinnell(1989) is a sixty-minute video
recording by the Lannan Foundation. In this
recording, Kinnell reads from several differ-
ent books of his poetry, including selections
fromMortal Acts, Mortal Words.
In 1993, Kinnell participated in ‘‘Poetry
Breaks,’’ a television series, broadcast by
WGBH, in Boston, Massachusetts. In a ser-
ies of very brief recordings broadcast for this
program, Kinnell reads four of his poems and
briefly answers questions about his poetry.
In 2007, Kinnell recordedHard Prayer,a
sixty- minute audio recording, in which he
reads a selection of his poetry. This record-
ing is available from Audio-Forum.Blackberry Eating