Strawberries
There were never strawberries
like the ones we had
that sultry afternoon
sitting on the step
of the open french window
facing each other
your knees held in mine
the blue plates in our laps
the strawberries glistening
in the hot sunlight
we dipped them in sugar
looking at each other
not hurrying the feast
for one to come
the empty plates
laid on the stone together
with the two forks crossed
and I bent towards you
sweet in that air
in my arms
abandoned like a child
from your eager mouth
the taste of strawberries
in my memory
lean back again
let me love you
let the sun beat
on our forgetfulness
one hour of all
the heat intense
and summer lightning
on the Kilpatrick hills
let the storm wash the plates
Commentary
Sumer is icumen in, which means (in England, at least) Wimbledon, Ascot and the Ashes. Oh, and strawberries in cream - hence today’s choice of poem.
Truth to tell, though, the strawberries of the title are rather incidental to the poem, which is mostly about love, and memory, and experience. No, wait, I take that back: the strawberries may be incidental, but that’s entirely the point - the poem is about incidents, about the million and one little things that make life worth living. The events described may be just one story out of many, but they’re no less real and no less important for that.
— Thomas
[Minstrel Links]
The magic of the ordinary is a theme which runs through much of Edwin Morgan’s work; see, for instance, his justly celebrated “The Unspoken”, Minstrels Poem #147. See also Seamus Heaney’s “Song”, Minstrels Poem #61.
Morgan’s poetry also has a strong undercurrent of humour; see Minstrels
Poem #215, “The Loch Ness Monster’s Song”, and Minstrels Poem #304, “The Subway Piranhas”. I find his playfulness a welcome relief in an age where poets often take themselves all too seriously.
Finally, while we’re on the subject of berries, see William Carlos Williams’ equally evocative slice-of-life, “This Is Just To Say”, Minstrels Poem #274.
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From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.
wirschnc · 14 August 2003
This is a love poem in disguise. The subject in the poem isn’t the girl he ‘loves’ or even the moment they shared, it’s centered around his idea of loving her. “Let me love you” is almost a demand not a mutual feeling b/w the two. He lusts selfishly over a woman that he describes not at all. This makes her interchangeable to become any woman that he wishes, be it lover, wife or just throw away fling and thats not really very romantic or personal simply selfish.
Nikki
Alex Bueno-Edwards · 8 October 2003
But love is love right, I mean “lean back let me love you” who doesn’t want to hear the ultimate lovemaking statement
Nancy Wood · 12 September 2005
I think the lover’s privacy is respected by his/her anonymity. The poet could be speaking to you, you know, this moment could be yours as well. Let me love you isn’t a command, quite, it’s that urgent thrilling I-must-have-you of love, then there’s a nice sequence of transformation through the three ‘Lets’. Let the sun beat on our forgetfulness is more of a prayer or wish, then Let the storm wash the plates is allowing, accepting, drifting into sleep.
This is certainly a poem about love, but also about death and love’s valiance in the certain face of death. Not hurrying this feast refers not only to not hurrying the eating of strawberries before the feast of love to come, but also not hurrying life away before death. The feast to come is us, you know, we will be death’s feast, and the feast of worms. See Shakespeare in Mercutio’s speech. The empty plates that lie on the stone together with their two forks crossed are like two effigy tombs lying side by side on the stone together with their arms crossed.
He’s done something wonderful here: using the ordinary, he’s touched the infinite.
Nancy
Gary xxx · 27 March 2007
The poem is about a time of homosexual lovemaking.
If we take the strawberry to be symbolic of another bulbous end that holds many seeds - a symbolism shared by some painters - then the theme becomes apparent.
In the first stanza the blue plates symbolise both parties being male, the plates only slot together one way like spooning homosexual lovers. By the end of the first stanza the first round of lovemaking is over - the plates are empty, laying on the stone. “The two forks crossed” symbolise male genitals crossed in the embrace afterward.
Stanza 2 and the lovers are ready for more with the taste of “strawberries” fresh in thier memory.
and so on.
McGuire4 Rebecca · 3 March 2008
As a reply to Nikki’s comment,
Morgan doesn’t describe the woman he loves, not through ignorance, but because he was describing a man, and feared persecution for his homosexuality as his was written in a much less tolerant time.
The effect of ‘merely’ describing the memory of this specific time they shared, and not his lover’s personal attributes (although it is hinted at that they are similar and share many qualities “two forks crossed” etc) a universal feeling is given, so this moment could be anyone’s simple but wonderful time in their life that they shared with their lover, so it could have been written about anyone, male, female, heterosexual, or not.
I feel Morgan portrays his feelings towards his lover very well, and is, perhaps selfish (“lean back and let me love you”, “your knees held in mine”) but by admitting these feelings, the poem is further made universal, as many have been selfish and desperate in love.