Migrations

Last weekend, a friend observed she could mark the seasons by the source of the blueberries in the supermarket where she shops. (For foreign readers- Safeway is a supermarket chain in the U.S.)

                                                        Migrations

                        Blueberries move north, just behind the birds.
                        You can track them at the Safeway.
                        In January they come from Chile,
                        transplanted treat the Incas never knew.
                        By March a hybrid that can take the heat
                         ripens among  Florida retirees,
                         a faint foreshadowing of the real thing.
                         Come August they are back where they belong,
                         growing New England wild for birds, bears,
                         and blue-tongued boys to taste how winter chill
                         becomes summer sweetness and how summer’s
                         surfeit makes way for winter’s long, spare rest.