What We Choose to Pick

Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. Seamus Heaney, “Blackberry-Picking” I visited the Seamus Heaney HomePlace this month, and on Bank Holiday Monday found myself out among the hedges picking blackberries, coming home with stained fingers and enough for a pudding. I am eating the last piece as I write this. There’s something genuinely comforting for me in these small, seasonal traditions. I need such mindful distractions, particularly...