Some Orange poems

Posted on July 16, 2003 in Poems Writing Exercises

As part of the Wednesday night writing exercise, we made lists of things that were orange and wrote several quick poems based on it:

Orange

an outrage!

I’m mad about orange.

I’m mad at orange.

Always “under construction”

always stalling me.

My eye grows tired

staring at the sun.

It closes and there’s orange in my face.

Tanagers

sucking at the half fruits

I’ve left spiked for them.

Weigh them before and after.

There’s your evidence that something was there

Something that drew the juice and the pulp,

breeding red feathers from orange,

making tangible tanagers.

Hey Mr. Tangerine Man

play a song for me

on your pitted skin —

shhhhh — be quiet —

Mr Tangerine Man is playing

and the drum he uses is very soft to the ear.

Orange roughy

an ugly fish

that I’ve seen only in pictures

and grilled on a plate,

filleted to a shape

that looks nothing

like the viscious trapezoid

gasping at the end of a line.