Forest Supermarket

One sunny summer afternoon

driving down a forest road,

we spied a wall of scarlet gems.

The raspberry motherlode!

Soon our hands were deep

in the juicy berry zone.

When suddenly we realized,

we were not alone.

We heard a sound behind us.

A growl! A grunt! A roar!

Somehow, we had stumbled

into the wild grocery store!

Momma bear was angry.

I can’t say she was wrong.

She had come for berries

and brought the kids along.

We left her to her shopping.

They are her woods after all.

Decided we'd get our berries,

from the farmer’s roadside stall.

©2024MoePhillips

Backstory

Life is full of surprises. A bear turning up while you’re doing a raspberry raid in the forest - that’s one kind of surprise. Then there is the waking up to an email from rebecca Leek - a wonderfully talented DJ on Suffolk sound Radio and she’s asked if she can read one of your poems on her sunday morning show "Up with the Lark" A better surprise!!! That my poem came after she read one from the mighty Margaret Atwood had me strutting around all morning. Thank you to Rebecca Leek - a truly generous and talented person who brought this poem to life for us.