Backing into a blackberry patch

a confession to my partner

I have been cheating on you, a little
But I could not help myself
She is so ripe and ready
And even if my hands get bloody
She bends to offer her fruit
Sunsweet to my tongue.

And like you, there is no walking right in
And demanding her fruit
Even though it’s there to see
Like you, I have to twist and turn to reach
And some falls too ripe to the ground
with the gentlest brush

Some fruit clings Even though it knows it has to go Saying “Not yet” And I say, “Okay - I’ll be back.” But best of all she, like you, offers fruit That says “Yes!”

I have been cheating on you, a little
Because I know just how long I have her
And when she’ll come again.
I can take her and put her in bottles
Remembrance of the taste of her
When the world grows cold.

But I suppose I can can you too
Your words keep well on a page.
Your poetry boils down into essence
Remembrance of your taste
And there’s enough pectin in my brain
To thicken the most lucid verse.

I’ll be back to backing into you
When she’s all thorns and no sweet
It’s the two set together that turns me on,
And there’s nothing less in you
Its proximity that does her best
Her ubiquity becomes my endless desire.

I have been cheating on you, a little.
You will read this and laugh
Knowing or not knowing that it is true
Dismissing or understanding
The way my groin tightens, and my chest rises
My mouth waters, and I grow hard.
When backing into a blackberry patch.