Tangles & Tails: Tracey Kiff-Judson's Blog

Burdocks and Briars

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Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson
Category: Blog

Happy Poetry Friday! Please visit our host, the incomparable Tabetha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference for a brave poetry zine and this week’s roundup!

Just a short post this week, as I am trying to wrap up a few pieces before the 2025 SCBWI conference in NYC next weekend. Is anyone else attending? If so, I would love to see you there and say,” Hello!”

This week, my “pruning” got off to a slow start. I identified six cookbooks to donate. I have many more, so that project has just begun. I am wondering if seven copies (mostly different editions) of The Joy of Cooking is too many? Perhaps.

We had our first major snowfall of the year in CT this week, and I enjoyed a hike in the woods just before sunset.

 

 This prickly, little burdock caught my eye. It seemed to be waiting patiently, its little hooks buried under a drum major's hat of snow, dreaming of spring’s passing rabbit.

Patience

Patience
is a virtue shared
by burdocks and briars.

© Tracey Kiff-Judson, draft 2025

28 comments

  • I'm charmed by your poem, Tracey! How many people have a kind word for burdocks or briars? Too few! (Did you know that you can eat burdock root? It is not uncommon in Japan and China.) I had to smile at your seven copies of The Joy of Cooking! You must enjoy The Joy :)
    • Tabetha, I paged through Joy of Cooking (1997 Edition) and was surprised to find a section on Burdock! Irma Rombauer suggests finding burdock root in Asian groceries and using the root interchangeably with carrots. Once the snow thaws, I might have to dig up my own burdock roots and see what this is all about. Thank you for the tip! : )
  • Your poem is so short and sweet and unexpected. It's a delight, Tracey. And loving the snow pics. My son just arrived in Canada for some snow play - so it's especially lovely to see these today. And yes, seven copies of a cook book is definitely too many. Unless you're starting a collection? (Full disclosure: I volunteer in the book section at our church OpShop, and cook books are the easiest  for me to cull!🤭)
    • How nice to have a visit from your son! Enjoy the snow!
      Yeah, with so many recipes online today, only a select few cookbooks are worth keeping!
  • In so many things, 3 is the magic number...maybe keep 3 Joys of Cooking for now and pass on the rest?  I didn't  hang on to much from the Kon Marie method, but it does also help me to think of the things I let go as being freed to bless someone else...
    The sound of "burdock and briar" is a whole poem by itself. I'd name my kids Burdock and Briar. I'll name our next two cats Burdock and Briar! I like knowing that they are patient, together.

    • Heidi, yeah, I have no idea how I got so many copies of "Joy." I had a couple, but I think my husband kept buying them for me when a new edition came out. Though I have to admit, there are some duplicate editions! Too much of a good thing! OOOO, Burdock and Briar do sound a lot like sibling names! How clever!

      Edited on Saturday, 25 January 2025 10:58 by Tracey Kiff-Judson.
  • Your post is yet another nudge from the Universe that I need to get outside with my camera and let the world give me all the poems I could ever write.
  • I am charmed by the alliteration of burdocks and briars. Having had our first ever (since 1899) snowstorm in South Louisiana, I don't have to virtually experience snow anymore. It is just as people say, calming, like being in the presence of something sacred. 
    • Margaret, I imagine it was magical!
      I also imagine things pretty much shuttered and stood still without salt trucks and snowplows to clear the roads.
  • Ha! And my patience is tried when I'm peeling off the little hitchhikers after my walk. Wonderful photos and great beauty in the words of a poem for what I've always thought of as a pest. They really are patiently waiting. Drum major hats help. A beautiful short poem.
    • Thank you, Linda! Truth be told, they are rather nasty! Even when you pull them off, their little hooks must be picked out one at a time.
  • It's snowing here today, in Denver, not a lot this time, but cold all day! I'll need to go out later & look for those lovely "drum major's hats", Tracey. I love the idea that nature's plants are patient, too, as I guess we all are! Remember that I volunteer at a local used bookstore, run entirely by volunteers. We rely on donations & receive many cookbooks, like you, cleaning out! The Joy of Cooking is one that doesn't sit on the shelves for long, FYI! Wow, seven! I am amazed! 
    • So wonderful that you volunteer at a book store! If I am ever in Denver, I will look for it! The Joy of Cooking is a classic, but I guess enough is enough! : )
  • Those pictures! How beautiful and sunny. Our snow is starting to melt, which means I'm not perpetually cold. :) Have a wonderful time in NYC. I wish I was going. My favorite pizza place is very close to the conference hotel (they have excellent gluten free -- and regular pizza). PizzArte 69 W. 55th Street. 

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