Tradition and Legacy

The poem exhibits a strong intergenerational thread as the practice of blackberry harvesting is passed from one generation of women to another. The first stanza opens the poem with a storytelling quality; the speaker is telling a fairy tale to their loved one as a way to share their family tradition. The second stanza becomes a guide to the practice, with instructions on how to behave in the wild presented as part of the story. This set of instructions is conveyed as something almost ritualistic, a series of actions intrinsically tied to the legacy and intimacy of this line of women.

The speaker goes on to explain the connection between these women: “Once, this old woman / I’m conjuring up for you / would have been my grandmother” (Lines 12-14). The speaker includes themself in this line, and then the object of the poem: “Years...