Blackberries

The blackberries within the poem are given an entire life cycle from berries that are still “green, hard as a knot” (Line 4), to fresh and ripe, to fermented and stale. This can be viewed as a metaphor for human life. The berries at their fullness represent the speaker’s childhood, at the height of energy and potential. Later, “the sweet flesh would turn sour” (Line 21) as the speaker ages out of childhood wonder and into the bitter disappointment of adulthood. By attempting to keep the berries stored indefinitely, the speaker is effectively trying to stop time; however, they quickly learn that youth can only be experienced once.

Blood

When the speaker’s friend eats the first berry, the juice is described as “thickened wine: summer's blood” (Line 6). There is a sense of a sacrificial act in this moment similar to the eucharist, a religious practice of...