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. 
  • Lovely snow pics Tracey, especially the tree lined one leaning inward–perhaps the trees are communing… And us humans and critters may need some of your poem's patience to gently remove any burdocks that hitch a ride on us, thanks for all! Enjoy the NYC Conference, I attended once, years ago–when they had a snowstorm.
  • Tracey, what a sweet and relaxing post about your first major snowfall this year. Beautiful! Enjoy the SCBWI conference. That sounds amazing. I love your description of the burdock wearing its "drum major's hat of snow." Perfect description. 
  • I'd love to attend a SCBWI conference one day - I'd love it if they held one closer to my neck of the woods! We haven't had any snow at all this winter, which does happen, but it's still early days, there's still time for a late-winter snowstorm.
  • Who knew I had something to learn from burdocks and briars? :) How lovely! Your pictures are gorgeous. Love the "drum major's hat" too! 

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