Self-Portrait with Umeboshi
Our resemblance strengthens each day.
Reddened by sun and shiso,
seasoned with salt,
we preside, finding
comfort in failure. Or does
the subjugation of one’s flavor for another’s
define defeat? The bitter, the sour, the sweet
attract and repel
like lovers separated by distances
too subtle to see.
Filling space becomes the end.
What do you learn when you look through the glass?
Knowing my fate, I say fallen. I say earth.
Ah, simplicity! When I was a child my mother would occasionally serve rice balls in which a single mouth-puckering umeboshi rested at the center. These have long been a favorite, but I admit that umeboshi might be an acquired taste. Commonly called “pickled plums,” ume aren’t really plums but are more closely related to apricots. I cherish them.
“Self-Portrait with Umeboshi” first appeared in the Silver Birch Press Self-Portrait Series (August 2014), was included in the subsequent print anthology, Self-Portrait Poetry Collection, and also appears in my chapbook, If Your Matter Could Reform.
Music: “Senbazuru” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
O at the Edges 
Enjoyed the reading!
And you’ve reminded me I still have some umeboshi in my fridge – pickled means still yummy I trust.
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Thanks, Jazz. Umeboshi seems to last forever. I’ve had some for several years (lost in the back of the fridge), and they tasted just as good (or bad, depending upon who’s eating them) as ever. 🙂
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You’re the only other person I have seen speak the poetry aside from myself but your voice is so much better. Lovely poem, lovely feel.
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You are very generous, Barbara. Thank you.
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I love those last three lines. So poignant.
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Thank you, Deborah. Much appreciated.
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I enjoyed how you gave voice to your poem. I would like to try this too. Your have a wonderful voice.
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