Bitter Strawberries

All morning in the strawberry field

They talked about the Russians.

Squatted down between the rows

We listened.

We heard the head woman say,

'Bomb them off the map.'

Horseflies buzzed, paused and stung.

And the taste of strawberries

Turned thick and sour.

Mary said slowly, 'I've got a fella

Old enough to go.

If anything should happen…'

The sky was high and blue.

Two children laughed at tag

In the tall grass,

Leaping awkward and long-legged

Across the rutted road.

The fields were full of bronzed young men

Hoeing lettuce, weeding celery.

'The draft is passed,' the woman said.

'We ought to have bombed them long ago.'

'Don't,' pleaded the little girl

With blond braids.

Her blue eyes swam with vague terror.

She added petishly, 'I can't see why

You're always talking this way…'

'Oh, stop worrying, Nelda,'

Snapped the woman sharply.

She stood up, a thin commanding figure

In faded dungarees.

Businesslike she asked us, 'How many quarts?'

She recorded the total in her notebook,

And we all turned back to picking.

Kneeling over the rows,

We reached among the leaves

With quick practiced hands,

Cupping the berry protectively before

Snapping off the stem

Between thumb and forefinger.