Ode to an Orange Adaptation

Christmas orange

(a poem by Emma Larsen, inspired by Larry Woiwode's essay, "Ode to an Orange")

two 

tiny heads 

poke through

the wooden rails

wrapped tightly in 

garland and lights as

we, two happy prisoners,

round cheeks glowing warmly

red and green pajamas waiting

finally getting the ‘go ahead’ and 

slippered feet padding down the stairs

and round hands gripping stockings and 

reaching and reaching and tunneling almost 

all the way to China until we find it in the toe:

orange

and round

smooth sphere

protected from bugs

and tiny fingers and before

unwrapping the toys placed so

carefully under the tree, we hold

this first most precious gift close,

cradled gently in two hands, with

closed eyes and a little nose

take a big, deep breath

inhaling the smell of

summer and 

Christmas

forgetting, if only for a moment, the snow

outside the window, the wind seeping in

the cracks in the walls, the ‘lost jobs’ and

big people problems we don’t really

understand anyway, just breathing

in this citrus globe from another

world, and watching mom, her

experienced hands, gently

cut six perfect slices into

maybe the one thing

we are certain

will be there

next year,

too 

Written Reflection:

As I read Larry Woiwode’s Ode to an Orange essay, the part that impacted me most was his recollection of Christmas morning, where he dug down in his stocking, “as if tunneling down to the country of China,” to get to the orange that was there every year. I remember my own parents talking about receiving an orange in their Christmas stocking every year, and thinking it was so interesting that such a simple and small gift would be remembered with such fondness all these years later. That was one idea I wanted to play with in this poem—that feeling of cherishing the little things (like an orange!) and remembering and loving them more than the big things. The characters in this poem might have a difficult life or they might face troubles, but they are able to be present and to cherish this small, beautiful, miraculous present placed in their stocking each year. 

In creating this adaptation, I decided to use poetry as my medium because, first of all, I love writing poetry, but also (and more importantly) I’ve been wanting to learn more about using poetry to visually tell a story in addition to just using the words. My roommate has a book of poems and the poet uses the spacing on the page so intentionally that I wanted to experiment with it as well! As I tried to do this, I was reminded of how different words are from the visual arts—and how words often give more room for interpretation and imagination (which can be an asset or not, depending on what you are going for). Overall, creating this poetic adaptation of Woiwode’s essay was an exciting way to internalize the work and use it to inspire and influence my own exploration of using poetry to both visually and verbally tell a story. It taught me that the process of adapting other works could be really helpful for students as they learn to apply those works to their own life and experiences. 

Through this poem adaptation, I also wanted to play with the idea of breath. When I think of an orange, I instantly associate it with a smell. Even when I see the color orange, I remember the smell of an orange. I remember the feeling of my fingers while I peel, and the lingering acidic scent on my fingertips and under my fingernails that lingers even after my hands have been washed. The image is so vivid in my head of holding an orange up to my nose, closing my eyes, and taking a big deep breath, and I wanted to portray that in this poem through several means. First of all, I wanted it to all be one sentence—one breath. From the beginning, the phrases are small, but as we grow in anticipation with the characters reaching for an orange, the phrases get longer and more complicated, and then we reach a peak, where we are brought to the description of the orange itself! This description is intended to look visually rounded, like an orange, and is also to be like a centerpiece in the poem, as the poem is an ode to an orange! The final stanza is meant to slow back down, like an exhale, gradually slowing and simplifying until the breath and the memory can linger and be let go.