{"id":5322,"date":"2026-03-17T14:39:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T21:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/?p=5322"},"modified":"2026-03-19T10:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T17:40:14","slug":"honeysuckle-taint-from-backyard-suite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/honeysuckle-taint-from-backyard-suite\/","title":{"rendered":"Honeysuckle Taint, from Backyard Suite"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Michael Berryhill, a Houston born, bred and based poet, was a friend from the age of eight on after his family moved behind our house in the East End, a true backyard buddy. He passed recently in hospice.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is initial poem from Backyard Suite, my memorial to the Edenic source of our shared poetic vocation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 – Honeysuckle Taint  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big trees grew smaller,
small ones big. I could 
reach the third crotch
of the supple willow, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

tippy toe to catalpa 
pods once shinnied up
after. Surreptitiously I
picked a fig. It smacked<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of delights so simple they 
had passed me by, wrestling 
with boys in breechclouts
over thistles and thorns,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

mulberries chewed with tar 
exuded by summer heat
from telephone poles tasting
of pinard from Provence.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With gentle, bruising brushes, 
as one might caress a clitoris, 
I turned gardenia petals brown, 
its honeysuckle taint <\/p>\n\n\n\n

a chorus of smells 
redolent of the imp,
the impervious scamp
I no longer am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Precepts may be percepts
(or vice-versa),
amnesia be tractable 
to ophactory cure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Backyard Suite consists of the following:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 –  <\/em>Honeysuckle Taint<\/em><\/a>
2 – <\/em>Memory, the Mockingbird<\/em><\/a>
3 – <\/em>Sad To Be a Child<\/em><\/a>
4 – <\/em>Yard<\/em><\/a>
5 – <\/em>A Session of Therapy<\/em><\/a>
6 – <\/em>Gladiola<\/em><\/a>
7 – <\/em>Shinny<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Berryhill, a Houston born, bred and based poet, was a friend from the age of eight on after his family moved behind our house in the East End, a true backyard buddy. He passed recently in hospice.\u00a0 Here is initial poem from Backyard Suite, my memorial to the Edenic source of our shared poetic … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Honeysuckle Taint, from Backyard Suite”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5322"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5326,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5322\/revisions\/5326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}