strawberries :: by edwin morgan

October 06, 2018 by melissa reid

When I came across Edwin Morgan’s poem back in August, it was at a time when I was thinking about someone at the end of their life. At any other time, I know I would have enjoyed the poem well enough. It’s such a vividly drawn scene – the blue plates, the strawberries dipped in sugar, the knees, the crossed forks – and simple. No fancy language. No tricksy metaphors. Also, it’s about food which generally endears me to a piece of writing/art…

goodbye September

October 02, 2018 by melissa reid

Dear September, you began with the saddest of news. With dark clothes, and borrowed blue handkerchiefs, and photographs that made my heart ache. In your pale light, we cooked up a feast – creamy lemon chicken with mushroom rice, dark chocolate orange and cardamom brownies topped with pistachios – and ate it together: lighting candles, sitting close, lingering long at the table in the golden light, remembering. Because: ‘when you are sad, you need to eat good food’…