by Emalene Lillipore
WIKIPEDIA SAYS THE LOGANBERRY WAS ACCIDENTALLY CREATED IN 1881 IN SANTA CRUZ, BY THE AMERICAN JUDGE AND HORTICULTURIST JAMES HARVEY LOGAN
But I tell you that Logan had a paintbrush from a magic colouring book. The kind where the pictures come alive when you brush them with water. Where the dinosaurs are speckled grey and you can just use that one brush and there they are in colour – slightly faded I’ll grant you, but that’s the payoff for not having the mess of paints. I say he bought one of those thinking it would bring back happy memories of his childhood, but that once it was in his hand, he had a different idea. How in his garden he had the perfect long-fruited raspberry. How his fingertips held the memories of berries yielding to his gentle pull, leaving their white cones behind. That he headed out of his back door with that yellow, plastic-handled brush, and walked whistling to the hedgerow where the wild blackberries grew. That he smiled as he tickled the pollen from the flowers. That when he looked at those huge berries on the brambles, he was imagining the combination he could make. How he was predicting the exact depth of colour in his head when he transferred those yellow speckles from the rough-ended bristles to the starred stigmas of his raspberries. I tell you he hurried because he imagined that if he didn’t, a bee might do it first. You say, But it couldn’t have been a plastic-handled brush in 1881.
Sue Finch is the author of two poetry collections: Magnifying Glass (2020), and Welcome to the Museum of a Life (2024). Her poems have been published in a number of magazines and journals and have featured on iamb, Eat the Storms, and A Thousand Shades of Green. She loves the coast, peculiar things, and the scent of ice-cream freezers. Vortex Over Wave was published in 2023 and features a selection of her #ElasticBandPhotos and poems for the full moon. Bluesky @suefinch.bsky.social X @soopoftheday Insta Soopof.
Emalene Lillipore has an affinity for long lost spaces, places, and lovers. Staying true to her Iranian heritage, she has rooted most of her understandings of life and romance into a carefully curated expression of self. Emalene is currently based in North America, uses she/her pronouns, and documents her life through photography, videography, floristry, and poetry. Her project’s goal is to uncover the hidden moments that rest quietly in the pursuit of love and romance, both platonic and romantic. You can find more of her work on Instagram and Tumblr, under the handle @loveyouseeyousoon.