January 11: My Friend Matt, "Because of Citrus," Oranges

I love oranges.  I'm hungry tonight.  I just picked up a collection of poems by a friend of mine, Matthew Gavin Frank.  You'll hear more about his book tomorrow.  Tonight, I just want to share a poem with you that satisfies my craving for Navels and Clementines.

Saint Marty hopes you're hungry.

Because of Citrus

The body is a parcel, shamelessly spilling
its oranges.  Blood, navel,

sweet.  Paper-wrapped and unzested, pith
left to tickle the crack of one's ass.

Because of citrus, we can cringe.  Because
the juice, we cry.  Like the body, drinking

is obvious.  But this is not the body.
Not really.  The emptied peel we leave

is only the whale to something smaller,
trying, as we all do, to make love

to another small, same thing.

I'm really hungry tonight