The poem
you've seen a strawberry that's had a struggle; yet was, where the fragments met,
a hedgehog or a star- fish for the multitude of seeds. What better food
than apple seeds - the fruit within the fruit - locked in like counter-curved twin
hazelnuts? Frost that kills the little rubber-plant - leaves of kok-sagyyz-stalks, can't
harm the roots; they still grow in frozen ground. Once where there was a prickley-pear -
leaf clinging to a barbed wire, a root shot down to grow in earth two feet below;
as carrots from mandrakes or a ram's-horn root some- times. Victory won't come
to me unless I go to it; a grape tendril ties a knot in knots till
knotted thirty times - so the bound twig that's under- gone and over-gone, can't stir.
The weak overcomes its menace, the strong over- comes itself. What is there
like fortitude! What sap went through that little thread to make the cherry red!
I love how this poem rhymes without being for children. It is unique because Marianne Moore uses many fruit in this poem which is different from her other poems. I can't wait to read more of her work!
It is a little hard to understand at first, but, after a few more times reading through it, it proves to be a thought-provoking piece of poetry with an obvious love for nature!