To Be Or Not To Be...A Berry Poem by Dónall Dempsey

I pick a
blackberry
& being me
I toss it extravagantly
into the air

& catch it(just about)
not just in my mouth
but in one gulp
(swallow it whole)
It hardly touches my throat.
One minute - it was a blackberry

enjoying the sunlight
& falling...falling...in mid-air
& the next minute - it wasn’t there.
It was in me(it had become me)
or rather itself(inside my self) .
It had ceased to exist
as how it had known itself

but for the time being
it existed inside me.
Was it still a black berry
or had it now become part of me.
Or was it just a case of
mistaken identity

I walked along
with the blackberry
inside me
thinking: