mi media naranja

an ekphrasis: Winslow Homer, Oranges on a Branch, 1885

Winslow Homer, Oranges on a Branch, 1885

Oranges on a Branch
for Kano

I cheat & look ahead 
to your birthday, 
I mean, to the art 
chosen for your day 
on the desk calendar 
you gave me at Christmas,
& I see it’s by Homer,
Winslow, I mean, 
a watercolour of oranges, 
five to be precise,
a still life of sorts, 
a cluster still hanging
in the sun, though, 
not arranged 
in filtered light
on a kitchen table,
and not actually still, 
more like quivering 
blessed life: primed 
to pick and to eat. 

And I think of the way 
in our home, somehow
(I know how), there are 
always oranges,
and whenever you eat one, 
you share it with me,
you peel and section 
or simply cleave, then share,
Spanish in spirit, I’d say,
a la mi media naranja,  
in other words, 
‘my half orange’,
by which I mean, 
like the Spanish,
each luscious specimen,
whole and bursting,
whether still on the branch, 
or a watercolour, 
or in a bowl on the table, 
is a rising sun 
that one day may set 
but can never part.