Week 2 - Introduction to Poetry
An orange,
An orange is a citrus it reminds me of summer, it's a round fruit that is nourishing and taste good. Its a symbol of nature and all its riches.
A little rough texture it has on the outside but nice on the inside. It smells wonderful but might taste too sour.
An orange is a fruit. You can taste, touch, feel, and smell the orange. It is for me to squeeze and hold it in my hands.
squeezed on the hands,
The juice of the orange is being squeezed into the hands, it smells sweet, but slightly biting, floral. It probably feels a bit thicker than water, and sticky when it dries because of the sugar content.
I see someone squeezing the orange and the juice dripping down onto hands the smell becomes stronger and I can feel the juice burning a tiny cut on my hand
First thing that came to mind was the smell of orange peels and the acidic cleaning power when it is used in cleaning agents. The two second after thought hit me hard... the juice oranges produce is sweet and sticky, why would anyone use it to clean their hands?
is an adequate substitute
this feels much more scientific and factual. like directions on a soap bottle. it changes the atmosphere into man-made as it's attached the subjective 'adequate' to the objective orange.
there's a switch from something we can imagine and see but to something a little more abstract.
In the third line the writer no longer is describing a thing or an action taking place, but is labeling the subject matter.
for soap and water.
This line is the only one that actually provokes my thought as it makes me wonder if juice from an orange is actually good for washing your hands. It does also change the meaning of the other lines as there is now a purpose for why this person is squeezing orange juice onto themselves; they're washing their hands.
It changes to the poem to an idea of a supplement to soap and water in case you don't have any, rather than anything about oranges.
Could this poem just be talking about oranges and water, or does this have a deeper meaning that relates to something more complicated?
"The Florida Citrus Grower's Association Responds to a Proposed Law Requiring Handwashing Facilities in the Fields"
An orange,
squeezed on the hands,
is an adequate substitute
for soap and water
...but is it tho?
Espada, MartÃn. Alabanza: New and Selected Poems 1982-2002. New York: W. W. Norton, 2003.