by Sania

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Deep in my notes app, hidden behind to-do lists and funny quotes my friends have said, lies a collection of thirty-seven orange poems.

It begins three years ago, on a gray, lonely day in freshman year. I rot in bed, eyes bloodshot from six hours of Zoom classes, throat dry from my diet of Cheez-Its and Eggo waffles. Nothing matters. I open Tumblr. I see a picture of an orange next to a three-stanza poem.

I leave my room, walk into the kitchen, grab a cutie. I begin unpeeling it, letting my hands trace every curve, bump, and ridge of the skin. The soft rind at odds with the sharp smell. My brother walks in, his eyes just as red as mine. I tear half and give it to him and it feels like a promise.

Since then, I have been searching for orange poems. There are some common themes: splitting halves, amber suns, the intimacy of unpeeling. But the overwhelming theme is joy. Celebrating the gift of life; our ability to love so much that we will give up half our orange to someone just to taste the same thing, in the same moment. In the palm of my hand, oranges remind me that life is worth living.

I love you. I’m glad I exist.

– “The Orange”, Wendy Cope

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© Sania

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Sania (she/her) is a new writer who loves poetry, the ocean, and music! Her favorite artists are The Cranberries and Gracie Abrams.

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