Skip to content

Scottish Poetry Library

Register/Sign in
Shopping Bag Shopping Bag
Bringing people and poems together
  • Home
  • COVID-19
    • Re-Opening FAQ
  • Poetry
    • Poems
    • Poets
    • Our National Poet
    • Podcasts
    • Best Scottish Poems
    • Poetry and Mindfulness
    • Champions 2020
    • Posters
    • Publishers
  • Library
    • Become a borrower
    • Catalogue
    • Collections
    • Ask a librarian
    • Copyright enquiries
  • Learning
    • National Poetry Day 2019
    • National Poetry Day archive
    • SQA set texts
    • Learning resources
    • New to poetry?
    • Advice for poets
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Exhibitions
    • Venue hire
    • List an event
  • Shop
    • National Poetry Day 2020
    • New Titles
    • Poetry Pamphlet Cards
    • Pocket Poets
    • Scottish Poetry
    • Help
  • About us
    • Our story
    • Our people
    • Our projects
    • Jobs
    • Our building
    • FAQs
    • Find us
  • Support us
    • Become a Friend
    • Donate
    • Easy Fundraising
  • Blog
Shopping BagShopping Bag
Ask a librarian
  • Home
  • >
  • Poetry
  • >
  • Vicki Feaver
  • >
  • The Larder
Donate Donate icon Ask a Librarian Ask a Librarian icon

The Larder

Vicki Feaver

Turned seventy, and not wanting
to waste the years left, half-asleep,
I’m stocking the shelves of a larder.

Each day is an empty jar to fill:
yesterday, with the silvery teeth
on a leaf-lichen; the day before,

with a thin mist rolling slowly
across the valley, fading a line
of beeches to pencilled ghosts.

Today it’s the powdery bloom
on the skin of a blueberry;
turning it, cold from the fridge,

between my thumb and finger;
noting the petal-shaped crater
where the flower shrivelled,

a small hole where it was pulled
from the stalk, crushing
its tangy pulp on my tongue.


Vicki Feaver

from Second Wind (Saltire Society, 2015)
no. 9 in the Saltire Society’s pamphlet series

Reproduced by permission of the author.

Tags:

ageing fruit Second Wind sensations

About this poem

In 2015 the Scottish Poetry Library commissioned poets Douglas Dunn, Vicki Feaver and Diana Hendry to write on the theme of age. Their poems appear together in Second Wind as part of the Saltire Society’s pamphlet series. The project as a whole is supported by The Baring Foundation, as one of its series of ‘Late Style’ artist commissions.

Share this
Facebook
Twitter
Email

Learn more

Vicki Feaverb.1943

A poet and teacher of creative writing, Vicki Feaver is now an Emeritus Professor of the University of Chichester.
More about Vicki Feaver

Events

Discover poetry events at the Scottish Poetry Library and beyond.
Find forthcoming Events

Newsletter

Sign up for Scottish Poetry Library\\\'s regular email newsletter.
Subscribe now
  • Newsletter signup
  • Accessibility
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Scottish Poetry Library
5 Crichton's Close, Canongate
Edinburgh EH8 8DT
Tel: +44 (0)131 557 2876
© Scottish Poetry Library 2021.
The Scottish Poetry Library is a registered charity (No. SCO23311).
City of Edinburgh logo Green Arts Initiative logo Creative Scotland logo
By leaves we live

The Scottish Poetry Library is staffed weekdays from 10am – 2pm and is providing a limited service including postal loans and Click & Collect. For details, click COVID-19 in the menu bar above. Dismiss