The sky grey-lagged
Feathered clouds in flight northward
Spat serious intent. A weather warning
Not wide enough of some wild blackberries
– But still I contested, and still the bee
Bumbled over late pink blooms.
My fingers too inched gingerly between briars
A purple-stained greed that ran with rain.
I hurried on the showerproof hood
heading homeward, head bent
with torrents timpaning a resolute beat
on blue-black plastic.
Couples clustering under umbrellas
Puddle-jumped in conversation,
Bedraggled dogs aborted walks
Bubble-wrapped prams and pushchairs wove
Wheelie patterns on the pavement. All this I saw
Before I reached the door, sodden
But home from the harvest.
Title gives a nod to Dylan & and I'm dropping in to the poets pub where Grace is hosting Open Link Night
PoetryPix 
I would love to have some blackberries to harvest… wouldn’t mind some rain actually as long as I could capture such a treasure. We picked a lot of blueberries this summer, but our cellar can take more jam I think.
Beautifully composed!
thank you Lucy
This is incredibly gorgeous, Laura! 💜 I especially admire the second stanza with its fresh and captivating imagery; “My fingers too inched gingerly between briars/A purple-stained greed that ran with rain.” Wow! You have me yearning for some blackberries as well! 🙂
thanks for your appreciation Sanaa – and for picking that purple rain line 🙂
Wow, I love the energy, hard intent of that rain and word compound Laura. Good harvest for you.
There are favorite parts:
The sky grew grey-lagged
A purple-stained greed that ran with rain.
Puddle-jumped in conversation,
thanks for hosting Grace – those picture lines sum up the brief pictures seen between lashings of raindrops
Great cloud and weather images. Loved us contesting and the bee bumbling over the last of the flower blooms. Too bad you got wet!! Love it!!
Getting wet, getting scratched, getting stung on nettles that grow round the bushes all part of the blackberry harvest ‘fun’
I can see how that would happen! :>)
I climbed inside this poem and wrapped it around me, Laura; it reminded me of blackberry picking with my daughter and grandson at the beginning of August. We have some big, shiny blackberries on the brambles by our front window – I must pick them. The grey-lagged sky with feathered clouds is like the one I photographed this morning, which is now clearing up, so no serious intent spitting yet today! I love the phrase ‘purple-stained greed that ran with rain’ and the alliterative and rhythmic ‘torrents timpaning a resolute beat on blue-black plastic’. The final stanza is a word painting of a perfect rainy day.
thank you Kim for wrapping your feedback so beautifully in blackberry rain
Evokes such vivid images of everything you describe! What we call ‘Kopfkino’ (head cinema) in German 🙂
Many thanks for that Kiki – What a very vivid word combination- says it all!
This is artfully composed, sonorous and smooth in the sweetness of blackberry-picking, all the while stressed by impending storm. Two worlds intersecting in the speaker, who defiantly savors one world while another threatens. Well done. – Brendan
Beautifully observed as always Brendan – Especially liked your observation of 2 worlds
“A purple-stained greed that ran with rain.” – wonderful.
My favourite line – thank you –
A lovely poem–I can imagine this “rainy day woman” determined in her blackberry picking despite the weather, while observing it all around her. For some reason, I liked the couples who
” clustering under umbrellas
Puddle-jumped in conversation.” And then the sound of all those b and p words.
you have captured the feeling I aimed to convey so well Merrill – now I can see what you mean about those b/p sounds – subconsciously summoned the rain there!
Yes! 😀
Sounds like a wonderful day, artfully rendered.
not entirely wonderful though the taste of wild blackberries worth the rainy day
Ah, I love rainy days and nights! 🙂
Brought back many memories of blackberry picking and “purple stained greed.” Wonderful word artistry! Thoroughly enjoyed the read, Rainy Day Woman. 🙏
thank you Mother Wintermoon!
A delicious write in spite of wet harvest conditions, Laura!
thank you Lynn – delicious such a good word!