The following version of this poem was used to create this guide: Gottshall, Karin. “The Raspberry Room.” Crocus (2007).

Note that all parenthetical citations refer to the line number from which the quotation is taken.

"The Raspberry Room" is a free verse poem from Karin Gottshall's first collection, Crocus, which won the Poets Out Loud Prize in 2007. Many poems in this collection deal with the meeting place between the exterior world and interior terrain. This interplay between the physical world and imagination can be seen in "The Raspberry Room," particularly in the way the speaker finds a sanctuary inside a raspberry patch. This poem is included in the Poetry Foundation's selection of poems about eating, cooking, and exploring relationships with food. In addition, "The Raspberry Room" elucidates the importance of children having access to secret hideouts, as well as humans having access to nature in general.

The speaker recalls struggling to reach an opening inside a raspberry patch on her grandparents' property. Despite the way the thorns draw blood and the berry juice stains her clothes, the speaker feels entitled to what she called the "Raspberry Room." There, she enjoys privacy, sanctuary, and a sense of royalty. Overall, the Raspberry Room provides solace in a world the speaker feels unprepared to navigate.