The Orange

The Orange

The Jaffa oranges are in

But you must buy the crate

You must take your chances

 Some years so sweet

Winter weeps at the memory

Some years astringent tears

I will find a friend

Gamble, and split a crate

Sweet or tart

It is no matter to the grocer

Reviews

[Marie]

I love this wonderful poem and the title drew me in to read it because when I was growing up in Ireland, we looked forward to the arrival each year of Jaffa oranges which came wrapped in a special paper in a timber crate. They were the juiciest, sweetest oranges of all and with a beautiful flavour not found in any other orange. I haven't seen them in a very long time in Ireland in recent years, sadly. A wonderful idea to buy the crate and half the oranges with a friend! I would very gladly halve my crate with you if I lived near you, dear Delmar. I love this poem, so charmingly inked and Thank you! for the trip through reading your poem back to yesteryear where sweet memories of Jaffa oranges still linger. Lovely work! Thank you for sharing...

[Delmar Cooper]

Thanks for your gracious comment. I have only seen them in the small wooden crates. I worked for a while at a produce house and was astonished at the variety of inported fruits and vegetables we bought and sold. Made the world seem smaller to eat a Chilean plum in winter.

[Marie]

How lovely wo work at a produce store, Delmar. I can only imagine the assortment of produce which you bought and sold and yet, eating a plum from Chile in Winter makes the world seem a little smaller. In Ireland, we get seasonal fruits from all over the world too and now we seem to get them all year round. Thank you so very much for your very kind and informative comment, Delmar. Wishing you a very blessed and beautiful day to enjoy. Have a wonderful new week ahead too...

[h d e rushin]

"Art is vice. You don't wed it. You rape it", Edgar Degas.

perhaps what is meant is that oranges can by supplanted with any intussusception or any other drawing in of something from without. Some people walk into the casino with 200 dollars and walk out broke....then the old lady is wheeled in, in a wheelchair with a roll of dimes and leaves with 2,000. Yet Chance can result in a love affair but it never turns into intuition. nicely written....dana

[Delmar Cooper]

Thank you for reading and favoring me with "intussusception". Much better than a bouquet or a bunch a chocolates.

[Nusquam Esse]

Honestly, when I think of oranges, it isn't the flavor. I envision the sensation of my fingernail slicing into the peel, and that burst of aromatic acid that follows. It is, as you say, a gamble on how succulent the fruit is. But fortunately I take a private pleasure in marring the skin and letting it tease the senses, which seems a far more consistent experience. Hopefully this doesn't translate into the metaphors this poem likewise teases.

[Delmar Cooper]

Thanks for reading and for your comment. The scent and spraying accompanying a flaying - not to be forgotten.

[Einstein Noodle]

love the analogy ... hook of a title "The Orange" ... i have eaten millions and have several different ways to do it ... i would never buy by the crate .. not even by the bag .. it is too risky for my love of the sweet oranges .. naval to be specific :)) the sadness i feel has been tempered with time and experience ... being alone is much different than feeling lonely ... for me there is a bit of both in this ... i love the closing .. take the risk ... the indifference of the grocer/life is stunning .. nicely crafted my friend ... truly. i am running so many memories sparked by "The Orange" ... well done says i!
E.

[Delmar Cooper]

Thank you for reading, commenting and not taking me to task for the gaspy shortness of this offering. I was in the produce business for a while, which is a little like watching the world turn in your warehouse day by day, month by month. When California is idle the Chileans are hard at work - that sort of thing. The foreign oranges in the crates of foreign wood fascinated me for a lot of reasons.

[Einstein Noodle]

what a treat ... its the simple things in life eh!? :)

[Samuel Dickens]

This is life, is it not? No guarantees, but the hope is there for a fabulous outcome. It works just like that with women, too. When aboard ship in the Mediterranean, we were supplied with fresh fruit that was mostly heavenly, especially the blood oranges. Never have I since tasted any that were as good. A good poem you've got here, filling my mind with thoughts and images. Hmm. I wonder how I could have split a crate of Cynthia with someone.

[Delmar Cooper]

There are just some things you don't share. Thanks for your comments and for just reading and letting me know.

[Neville]

I really do like this Delmar ... most original and of course, every word is bloomin true .... My grandparents were greengrocers years ago .. but that aint why I like your words .. not keen on jaffa oranges tho

:)

[Dave]

They can be so sweet, but then again. You pay your money and you take your chances.
Take care and be safe - Dave

[free will]

The gamble, the random. Or what may be. Nice poem by you.

[Delmar Cooper]

I am happy that you read this and gratified that you responded. Much obliged.

[Ash]

I've always thought of writing poems about random stuff in life but something never seems to work ( I would never think of writing a poem about oranges :D )
Here the line "Sweet or tart" makes me to remember Forrest Gump's famous quote about chocolates.
This poem is breathtakingly simple and elegant at the same time.

[Delmar Cooper]

Thank you for reading and commenting

[Yari Garcia]

This is such a wonderful poem :-) To me, this poem speaks about life.

Yari

[Delmar Cooper]

Thank you for reading and your gracious comment.

[Cory Barrett]

It is an investment, not on the results, but rather the experience. New peel leading into a new test, a new breath of possibility.

No, the grocer never cares. Theirs is the stagnant life, based on the need of the buyer; never the experience.

Lovely write Mr Cooper.