Poem for February: Oranges

This is still probably under copyright, so read it by clicking (http://matthewkaberline.blogspot.com/2008/04/gary-soto-oranges.html)

Though this is not the Gary Soto poem I was looking for, it does have a lot of nice imagery easily accessible to the middle school population. This is why, of course, it is assigned by so many middle school teachers.

Back in January, I lamented the lack of poems coming into my life. At the time, I was "reading" three poems a night from a poetry anthology. As the quotes around the word reading indicate, I wasn't actually doing that. I needed to find time for poetry every day, but where?

A few things happened at once, in the way that life goes. First off, I started eating breakfast at home again. I had been bringing my breakfast to work and eating at my desk. I realized I was eating 80% of my food at work, sitting in front of my computer and decided to cut back that practice. I had to cut out the morning meditation, but it is so pleasant to now eat two meals at a table that I think the trade off was worth it.

Next, the newspaper started to arrive very late. The paper is supposed to get here by six o'clock on weekdays and my paper guy was not meeting the cut most days. So I had nothing to read while eating my breakfast. A-ha! An opening for more poetry! I got two anthologies and a book by a single author. I rotate through them as I eat my breakfast, which is delightful. Although sometimes not if a poem is particularly graphic or disturbing. Though that is rare and mostly, it is wonderful.

Now I have more poems coming into my life, which means it is easier to find poems to memorize.