This week's question comes from Gary at Parrish Lantern:
What is your favorite poem and why?
This is an impossible question. It's like asking me, "What is your favorite star in the sky?"
The answer is that I love them all.
Here's one I feel like sharing with you today:
The Orange
By Wendy Cope
At lunchtime I bought a huge orange
The size of it made us all laugh.
I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave—
They got quarters and I had a half.
And that orange it made me so happy,
As ordinary things often do
Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park
This is peace and contentment. It's new.
The rest of the day was quite easy.
I did all my jobs on my list
And enjoyed them and had some time over.
I love you. I'm glad I exist.
Forgive me, but, The Orange feels very Christmas-y to me.
No, it's not red and green.
And there's no candy canes or Santas or elves.
Somehow Christmas-ish anyway.
Copyright Notes:
The photo is of an orange I had in my refrigerator. It's pretty big.
I don't know how it tastes.
I think I'll take it to lunch.
Wendy Cope, "The Orange" from Serious Concerns. Copyright © 1992 by Wendy Cope. Reprinted with the permission of Faber & Faber, Ltd.
Interesting question! I don't know that I can pick a favorite, but two that resonate with me every time I read them are Yeats's "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death" and Frost's "Design".
ReplyDeleteI wish I could say that I love all poems...I should look into more modern poetry though, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThis is so good! I want an orange now!
ReplyDeleteBeing a poet, I can’t imagine my life without poetry. I live and breath it. I have loved to read a lot of poets and poetry over the years and still find something new every day. I have gone through phases liking, poets, and moving over to the the next. So many yet to read.
Here is my Literary Blog Hop post!
That is such a great poem! It made me smile :) I've never read it before, but I agree that it has some sort of Christmasy feel to it. Perhaps it's because of the happiness in it? Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteMy favorite poem is Langston Hugh's' The Negro Speaks of Rivers.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, this is a lovely poem. Thanks for sharing it. I always look forward to your posts on the Literary Blog Hop!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful companion piece, Parrish.
ReplyDeleteI like it very much.
And I went out and bought an orange for every member of the faculty at my school. I decided to give each person an orange and a copy of this poem. For Christmas.
Simple yet wonderful! Thanks for sharing :) I really liked this poem.
ReplyDeleteI find poetry very hard to read. I think it was years of poetry abuse by bad English teachers at high school. But I loved your answer. I can see why you love that poem. It does feel Christmasy. I think it even harks back to the 18th century when oranges were exotic and expensive and a great source of wonder to the populace as a whole, not an overfamiliar and taken for granted everyday fruit that is usually actually consumed as juice. And what a great idea for a Christmas present for your school faculty. Brilliant.
ReplyDeleteI love this, it's so simple! Thanks for sharing it!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely an orange is Christmas-y! Think of the children who got them in the toes of their stockings and were so delighted (when my grandfather was small). Or, I remember my mother sticking them with cloves to make a pomander, and Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote of her aunt doing the same but then rolling it in cinnamon. I loved your poem; it made me smile and feel the season.
ReplyDeleteThis does have a Christmas-y feel! I decided to share the poem that brought me back to poetry.
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited you chose this poem! I love it.
ReplyDeleteI can see the Christmas-y aspects of this poem. Good choice!
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice happy poem. Makes me want to share something good.
ReplyDeleteWhat an adorable little poem! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThat's such a cute poem! It's hard to pick just one great poem.
ReplyDeleteMy mother always left oranges in my stocking at Christmas. The orange will forever mean Christmas to me. Thanks for bringing back a special memory.
ReplyDeleteI love the simplicity and eloquence of your choice. I tink it is actually harder to write poetry, and for that matter prose, about ordinary everyday things and events than it is about the more complex aspects of life!
ReplyDeleteYour blog always makes me smile. That is such a peaceful, happy poem!
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