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Strawberries in June

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Kim is hosting dVerse today and has asked us to write about fruit.  Having bought my very first basket of seasonal strawberries, how could I write about anything else? I thought I’d be writing about all the ways to use said fruit but the muse had other plans!

We have become spoiled

That’s what we say, anyway

Strawberries can be had year-round

From all sorts of exotic locations

But really. Tell the truth

Are they really worth it?

 

How can you compare these hard, tasteless,

not to mention oversized “berries”

with those ruby red, juicy

bursts of summer?

 

It starts in a field on a sunny day

You have to crouch to discover where

those beautiful red flavour bombs are

Pick one and bring it to your nose

inhale its distinct scent

Brush off the sand or dirt

Hold it by the stem and bite off the tip

or the whole thing, depending on size

and your level of gourmandise!

The berry is soft yet has some yield

and the tiny seeds add a special crunch

as the juices slide down your throat

 

By the time you’ve had your fill

your fingers are stained

your belly is happy

you might even have berries in a basket!

But you are convinced that

you are once again a kid and

are filled with summer’s essence

 

 

154 thoughts on “Strawberries in June”

  1. Q

    Here! Hear! This is the essence of the strawberry, in all its sugar-plummed splendor. Because outside of the watermelon, there is no summer sweet that makes me think summer quite like the strawberry. And unlike the watermelon, I can dig on strawberries anytime . . and yet they still mean summer to me.

    Tasty and true take on a berry delicious treat.

    B

    Liked by 5 people

  4. Ah, I ADORE berries, and many summer fruits, and I for one enjoy the access to berries year-round (whether I get them year round has to do with the plastic-to-flavor-ration and the hole-in-the-pocket reality of buying off-season fruit …) AND I celebrate them when finally in season. In REAL season. There is a fullness to the fruitiness and a ‘rightfulness’ about the timing. Here’s to fruit in its season.
    And … while schedule won’t allow me to take a stab at this prompt tonight, perhaps another time, in its season … 😉
    xoxo
    Here’s to strawberries in June! 🙂
    Na’ama

    Liked by 4 people

  8. Aww, this is really beautiful and it takes me back to when I used to go to farmer’s markets with family. That was fun. The experience of tasting, smelling fresh fruit is truly invaluable, and it’s beautiful, if not poignant, how you describe it throughout this piece like a memory.

    Liked by 4 people

  9. I loved how you described it. It was like I had bit into one of these juicy berries myself! Unfortunately getting to pick strawberries is not something I’ll get to experience. We don’t grow them around here.

    Liked by 4 people

  10. True. Our strawberries left over from when we had our Strawberry Ziggurats, which always thought would be a great name for a band, are not producing strawberries this year. Too dry, I suppose.

    Liked by 4 people

    • Strawberry Ziggurats – definitely would be a great name for a band! I’m thinking of going to get a plant. My friend’s produced year round in her house! I was so surprised. Didn’t think that could happen,

      Liked by 1 person

  13. Yes! Much better to have the seasonal delight than the store-bought flavourless alternative. We have many wild strawberries around here, can’t wait for them to ripen…

    Liked by 3 people

  14. It took a while to get to your poem, Dale, but I’m glad I did. A timely title and I agree, we have become spoiled with strawberries year-round. I am very lucky to have farms nearby with seasonal strawberry picking, and those strawberries taste so much better. I love the ‘ruby red, juicy bursts of summer’ and the tiny seeds that ‘add a special crunch’. Strawberry picking does indeed make you feel like a kid ‘filled with summer’s essence’.

    Liked by 4 people

  15. Fresh, local strawberries taste like summer. Daughter and I were just talking about that the other day, and I said the same thing–that I’ll buy the out of season strawberries in the supermarket, but then when I taste the NJ strawberries, it’s so different–they just burst in your mouth. . .oh, now I’m going to have to stop at a farm stand today. I hope they still have them.
    And good for you getting to the prompt–I haven’t done any this week.

    Liked by 4 people

    • Dear Rochelle,

      That means I succeeded! Thank you and yes, bring them on! (Not at the price I paid for these ones… holy hell were they expensive!)

      Shalom and lotsa berrilicious love,

      Dale

      Liked by 1 person

  22. There is nothing better than picking a ripe strawberry off the plant, brushing away the dirt, and enjoying! You did such a great job depicting the essence of this delicate fruit, Dale!

    Liked by 4 people

  23. I completely agree.

    I love the ending:
    “you are convinced that
    you are once again a kid and
    are filled with summer’s essence”

    Liked by 5 people

  24. Dale the zest of life itself is right there, in the berries and in your poem. It sounds to me like you were picking Wild strawberries, which makes me wonder where you are. The wild strawberries here in New Jersey, USA or completely flavorless little pieces of Styrofoam.

    Liked by 4 people

    • Thank you! Wild strawberries are tiny bursts of flavour. I live on the south shore of Montreal but the best wild berries were a two hour drive north of home when we would visit my mother’s. I’m sure if you found a field they would be delicious…

      Liked by 1 person

  26. I agree wholeheartedly… the first Strawberries have started to come, but the ones that really matter are the ones we eat at midsummer… fresh and sweet, served with just a bit of whipped cream.

    Have you ever tasted those small wild strawberries (the one you really thread on straws). They taste even better… even though they are not really juicy.

    Liked by 4 people

    • Yes. for sure. And it’s funny because I was going to talk about the tiny wild ones but then figured I had gone on long enough 😉 Their taste is a burst of flavour.

      And no whipped cream for me. Maybe a little cream or just straight up… or with balsamic vinegar…,

      Like

      • The wild strawberries are considered so precious here so you keep their place a little bit secret, a place for wild strawberries is used as a metaphor for a place where you go just with someone special for summer. There is a film by Ingmar Bergman called Wild Strawberries…

        Liked by 2 people

        • They are the best! And yes, we definitely don’t want to share when we find a special patch! That is lovely. I shall have to look into it.

          Like

  30. Oregon grows some of the finest strawberries in the world! Blessed when they begin appearing in roadside stands, farmer’s markets, grocery stores! We are having strawberry shortcake for dinner tonight! Loved the poem!

    Liked by 4 people

  33. A most scrumptious poem 😀 I especially admire; “Hold it by the stem and bite off the tip or the whole thing, depending on size and your level of gourmandise!” Yes! 💝💝

    Liked by 4 people

  34. I don’t know why but whenever I see 🙈 🍓 strawberries ,love to call them pretty ☺️☺️ st🍓 are my most fvrt fruit n I always 🥶 freeze it in my freezer just cz I love to eat fresh strawberries jam in morning!!

    Liked by 4 people

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