A Brief Personal History of the Orange
       

Orange is first fruit,
the one my mother allowed
free access to, the cheap one,
apples are too dear.
Saccharine and sharp
to the nose, scent of school
cafeterias, the one
we take for granted.
Plant an orange seed, you might get
grapefruit or lightbulbs.
I have loved our moon-shaped
fruit, its female life,
its carpel, its chimeric nature,
its response to cosmic rays,
its shadowy layers.
I have eaten its flesh and pith and skin,
felt the spreading decline
of the thread worm at the roots,
the slow dying from top to bottom.

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Copyright © 2019 Pam Davenport All rights reserved
from A Midwest Girl Thanks Patti Smith
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Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission