Poetry Corner: Everything Orange Is New Again
Absence from LJ-age in general has prevented me from making my usual doomed assay at posting a poem a day during April-is-the-coolest-month. Seeing a couple of friends' lovely selections, though, has inspired me to venture forth from my hermetic redoubt and post at least the odd verse or two.
This one, I've posted before, though not during National Poetry Month. I have loved it since I first read it back in 2004, and it speaks for my own vision of happiness as well as anything can these days. (I also powerfully associate it with Katrina, which is hardly coincidence.)
The Orange
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.
-Wendy Cope, 1992
For those of you who remember this poem from earlier postings and so demand new content, may I offer the following spiffy image link, courtesy of one Lisa Hammond?
This one, I've posted before, though not during National Poetry Month. I have loved it since I first read it back in 2004, and it speaks for my own vision of happiness as well as anything can these days. (I also powerfully associate it with Katrina, which is hardly coincidence.)
The Orange
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.
-Wendy Cope, 1992
For those of you who remember this poem from earlier postings and so demand new content, may I offer the following spiffy image link, courtesy of one Lisa Hammond?