I have just finished reading "Blackberry Eating" by Galway Kinnell. If there's one thing i notice about this poem, Kinnell's topics of choice to write about are almost as obscure as him name. He uses such vivid imagery to describe these blackberries he's so infatuated with. He describes them as "fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries"
One specific comparison he draws in his comparison of the consumption of the blackberries to the expelling of words, drawing a relationship of simplicity between the two when he says "the ripest berries fall almost unbidden to my tongue, as words sometimes do." I find this metaphor to be compelling in that one action involves taking in (eating) and the other involves expelling (talking); two opposing actions to describe the same sense of feeling he gets from the two.
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Yes, that's an interesting perception; taking in the world to nourish the art. Word sounds (the tartness of consonants spiking against the fullness of vowels) and rhythms important, here, as Kinnell presents a poetic equivalent of "Blackberry eating." Think about the time of year, a we move away from summer, into fall, the coldness and crispness of the berries, and at the same time their darkness... and riskiness--the dangerous stalks that can draw blood...the complexity of experience in this simple act of taking in...the other
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