Keep your nose in the bushes
let fingers fly, reach through bramble
tickle berries into your palm
check under leaves for stragglers
or the straw-boss will send you back
to glean like Ruth in the Bible.

Do not covet your neighbor’s row,
every berry taken will raise a white flag
let them know that you stole
their ruby coats.
 
When it’s hot, berries sweat and wilt
in their baskets, when it rains
you only need half as many.
Bring a container of berries
top up your flat, just enough to tip the scale
you get paid for 15 pounds not a berry more.
Punch your card. 

Pick over 170 pounds a day
earn a cart with wheels
rather than stands knocked together
with 2x4s, keep your eyes
down when weighing in
never brag, adults don’t like it
when you out-pick them.

Sing every TV jingle you know.
Laugh every time you hear Warner’s Mother yell
Warner, start picking!
And dream, dream of walking down Fraser Street
with paper bags bursting with real jeans
crisp binders and a sharp rainbow of crayons.

© by Karen Klassen.
Used with the author’s permission.