00: some orange-inspired poems

a juicy, succulent first post to dig your teeth into

I peeled an orange
and gave you some

It was an act of desire,
An innocent love.

But I dared not remove
the sticky white parts,

In case you would know,
I loved too hard.

— Zainabزینب

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I peel oranges nearly.
The sections come apart cleanly, perfectly, in my hands.

When Emily peels an orange, she tears holes in it.
Juice squirts in all directions.

“Kate,” she says, “I don’t know how you do it!”

Emily is my best friend.
I hope she never learns how to peel oranges.

— Jean Little

---

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 the jobs on my list
And enjoyed them and had some time over.
I love you. I’m glad I exist.

— Wendy Cope 

I hope these poems sparked something in you just like they did to me. It’s fascinating how something so mundane as orange slices can represent so much, and can inspire such beautiful words. I hope to do the same with this newsletter, in one way or another. Inspire you, sure, but most importantly, make you smile, make you think, make you happy. Make you glad you exist.

Until next time,

Juliana.