#citrus
I asked,
“What if the sun is a colossal gummy?”
amber and tremulous,
suspended in the citrus-blue cathedral of sky.
He said,
“It would have been harvested.”
I imagined ladders piercing the stratosphere,
men with golden shears
clipping the day from its stem,
wrapping it in waxed parchment,
placing it in crates labeled perishable.
I asked,
“What do you think it tastes like?”
He closed his eyes,
smiling faintly,
and said,
“Warm and gooey, tropical…”
He tilted his head, letting the words roll off his tongue,
“like pineapple, orange, and mango.”
The flavor dripped into my mind,
sticky sunlight running over my wrists,
clouds dissolving like spun sugar,
the horizon melting into nectar.
Perhaps that is why evenings bruise so tenderly.
Someone has taken a bite,
pressed teeth into the radiant rind,
left crescents of absence across the sky.
And we, small orchard-keepers of wonder,
stand barefoot in the grass,
palms lifted,
waiting for sweetness to drip back into our mouths.
If the sun were a gummy,
we would call it abundance,
we would call it hunger,
we would call it childhood,
sticky with astonishment.
But it remains unharvested tonight,
burning and benevolent,
a sugared god of citrine fire,
flavoring our shadows with gold.
And I like to think
that somewhere inside its molten heart
is a pulp of mango-bright hope
refusing to be bitten.
Mar 2
Mar 2, 2026 at 9:29 AM UTC
All the years, how they pass,
Unhurried but veiled,
Like being seen through glass
The games we played,
Minecraft and FNAF,
The things we saw,
Social media and war,
What we smelled,
Vanilla and Citrus,
What we heard,
Bet and cringe,
What we touched,
Soft and jagged,
What we tasted,
Sweet and sour,
What is this feeling?
It’s left me so…cold,
It could only be Nostalgia,
A disease of the old.
Nov 4, 2025
Nov 4, 2025 at 12:17 PM UTC
When you have more limes
When you have fewer lemons
Use the zest you have
Sep 21, 2025
Sep 21, 2025 at 2:06 PM UTC
Nakedly bottled.
Capturing bursting seasons
here and now.
Life, delicate in its notes,
the top notes,
lithe as youth,
citrus and bloom,
ever briefly,
recondite pleasure,
a suppliance of time
a rush that fades away.
Heart notes,
the flesh of our days, unfold—
warm spices, florals, deeper and continues to exude as winter winds careless breath.
In the middle years, the scent sits and blares and mellows—a steady pulse of sandalwood and musk.
Sultry as the scent may have lingered,
flirtatious colors in the breeze’s hair
the base notes come,
the earthier tones,
amber and resin,
heavier on the air,
decays a final wisp
until faint on the skin.
A memory is born.
Sep 27, 2024
Sep 27, 2024 at 1:21 AM UTC
You smell like pure warmth, sweet and heady, like a muggy summer night just after a heavy rainfall; earthy. A wet cedar, woody scent with an undertone of citrus. You smell of home, a sheltered blanket of safety.
Oct 16, 2023
Oct 16, 2023 at 4:06 PM UTC
I have been peeled
the ripest of my juices trickle
between cracks within the fold.
held up by the hands of affronted lust
and weighed beneath twin peaks
not crafted by I
but molded for the other;
a single mirage
reflects itself onto many surfaces,
in which they have been ****** upon
Mar 8, 2023
Mar 8, 2023 at 6:13 PM UTC
_Me,
Standing
Underneath
A swamp cypress
******* at an orange while the rain falls
~
Tacky fingered and smelling of citrus
T-shirt front stained
Warm with juice,
I taste
You._
Dec 24, 2021
Dec 24, 2021 at 3:13 AM UTC
Don’t let the strong citrus scent,
Leaves you stepping back,
Come forth instead,
And welcome to the Tangerine Wonderland,
Where the orange colour stretches,
To far back,
Complimented by its fellow citrus friends,
For yellow, orange, and green,
Are the feelings,
My heart screams,
When I’m with you.
Nov 9, 2021
Nov 9, 2021 at 1:25 PM UTC
Sweet fragrant citrus
Awaken my tired senses
The essence of home
Apr 14, 2021
Apr 14, 2021 at 7:56 AM UTC
Our saving grace
now leaves me with a perplexing taste of hiraeth in my mouth
In our moment of need, we clung to it
although simple
and dashingly ordinary
we wouldn't be here without it
but now that it inches toward its inevitable end
I am filled with bitter nostalgia
one of empty promises
for even when our season was ending
I cared for you nonetheless
I clung to your ruminating sweet taste
for even when your newfound thorns engulfed me
I held on
watering jug in hand
and laid my eyes on your grand opulent tree
just as fondly as before
Now we are back in season
but my hands have grown rough and weary from the thorns of yesterday
your once dulcet taste
repulses me
for the taste of my blood is surprisingly pungent.
Apr 13, 2021
Apr 13, 2021 at 2:03 AM UTC
I'm am utterly abashed
I so badly want to be filled with fury
but I cannot
as you always
and forever
will be my sweet evanescent orange
not yellow
even though some may think
because yellow is simple
easy some might even say
orange is rough and allusive
it is filled with a desire so pure
hidden between many layers of said skin
passionate
intense
stubborn
but also soft
and dulcet
not pliable in any way shape or form
Orange queries
she asks
"why"
why?
because I fell in love with you
and then I fell in love with life
before it was dull
to mask the bitter
but citrus is not bitter,
even out of season
it is bittersweet.
So I pray you won't break your promise a second time
because this time
I cannot follow you
because now I find myself relishing the bittersweet of life that rests on my tongue.
With, or without your grace.
Apr 11, 2021
Apr 11, 2021 at 11:12 PM UTC
They're voices hit me
like hardened citrus
Thrown at my curled body on the floor
their laughter is hurting me
their smiles are my scars
Band-aids and mocking
inside I'm breaking
everyone else loves me the way I am
so why can't they?
Mar 14, 2021
Mar 14, 2021 at 4:27 PM UTC
Gentle rain storms heighten
the scent of lilac bushes lining the fence
anticipating perennials
lively from the dampness and the sun
when days stay dry
carrying a bucket of water in one hand
walking barefoot to hydrate them
meanwhile
sunshine fruits
are being morphed into juice
behind the silk curtains
I see the wrinkled hands
firmly holding fruit peels
covered in shiny liquid
rays focus on her hands just right
this view
dripping
in citrine shades.
Apr 26, 2020
Apr 26, 2020 at 3:36 PM UTC
Bawling like clementine’s dripping citrus,
Pulp dribbling out our mouths; our first attempt to peel words
From our tongues an ache, perhaps trying to articulate a longing
For the Sunshine Hands that plucked us from that great tree
And peered at us with Celestial eyes.
Apr 4, 2020
Apr 4, 2020 at 4:58 PM UTC
he's summer
his body
smells like citrus
soothing
like the June wind
Jan 28, 2020
Jan 28, 2020 at 6:21 AM UTC
Squeeze gently like lemons and fruits
Sweet nectar juices produced
**** tongue close to core
Butterscotch like tapped sycamore
Perspiration seeps from peel
Porous citrus aromates near
Grown in sun among the wildflowers
Oh how I love her, even when she sours
Mar 16, 2019
Mar 16, 2019 at 8:03 PM UTC
Poetic justice
is
not a boomerang
Feb 18, 2019
Feb 18, 2019 at 9:06 AM UTC
an American
tree with
mandarin flute
that made
cute in
her high
shoes where
courtier still
glazed midland
snow with
mistletoe on
this street
as lit
for shop
till the
new year
was shone.
Dec 9, 2018
Dec 9, 2018 at 12:34 PM UTC
*Your curves
Your lines
Every strokes
I wish it's mine
Your portrait
Your stern trait
When it melts
Huge urge is felt
Jaw opened
To the point of drooling
Lips bit
Sends me imagining
I hold my breath
I grit my teeth
I wet my lips
As my body shakes
Black or white
Or colored in sight
Your beauty seems alive
You're the epitome of my desire
And so I close this book
Put it on a stack of volumes
For this is the painful truth
You're just a character inside Citrus*
Sep 28, 2017
Sep 28, 2017 at 9:42 PM UTC
As a lemon is laurel and a grove near a bay only
that lies trees with the cherry blossom seeds
in these seasons of bliss where splendor was wind
and resplendency now accord with the crabgrass
while lust sublime in these orchards of time.
May 30, 2017
May 30, 2017 at 8:35 AM UTC
Her ultimate
orange turf
apprized forte
that tide
swiftly bode
as sun
gleamed brilliantly
where in
vernacular with
her love
then might
rain today
when awash
with her
orchard grove
insignia embossed
with repartee
Oct 17, 2016
Oct 17, 2016 at 9:57 AM UTC
i remember that day in the afternoon sun
the garter snake passed lazily through the tall yellow-headed sourgrass
or maybe time was edging toward stillness
as it so often does in mental replays
there was cold, clear water in a tall, clean glass
that sat still at the end of your fingers
the sunlight hit the sides and it came through the water tilted
at the same angle as your head as you smiled
i saw the condensation on your hand
and wondered if it would feel cool against my skin
or if all I'd feel was the warmth of you
i could feel the glaciers melting
drop by drop by drop
and a warm, soft wind
covered up everything
on the day your love came screaming through me
you had oranges and lemons in a canvas bag beside you
different hues of summer in that pouch you brought along
there were seven different kinds of light welling up inside of you
you smeared citrus pulp all over me, in laughter like song
gone too quickly to tell you I longed for you to stay
gone to good old east rutherford three thousand miles away
i felt the warm surge blast my mind
coming in from behind
on the day your love came screaming through me
in the fresh light of day
i felt something falling away
on the day your love came screaming through me
*i remember that day
time was edging toward stillness
as it so often does in replays*
Dec 15, 2014
Dec 15, 2014 at 10:14 PM UTC
I crave you
more often than I
crave delicious fruit
I always want my citrus
thirst-quenching juiciness
but I’ll take vitamin D over vitamin C
and save ripened tangerines
for when I’m feeling a little weak
in the knees after squeezing your
blooms—good enough to eat
Jul 16, 2014
Jul 16, 2014 at 2:54 PM UTC