Blood Oranges
- Blood Oranges
Blood Oranges, Daniel Lusk, Poetry, King Henry, Pope Gregory, Lady Jane, 1996, 1077
“No one ever talks about the magma.”
— heard on Car Talk (NPR)
1077. King Henry is doing penance in the snow outside Pope Gregory’s palace. There is a question of desire.
If a fat man bears a chicken on his shoulder, he will never starve.
Once you came to me, gorgeous in my dream; your words were thrushes’ feathers. You removed your robe and showed yourself, even the violet shadows beneath your breasts. Even the damp curls.
Lady Jane was queen for nine days, and I was king for ten. My subjects, these thighs and glistening fingers, willingly traded everything they owned. You gave me two blood oranges to remember.
Who will not start at the sound of the falcon’s bells? Will not shudder at the blow of a kiss on the cheek, at the model clothed, the artists naked at their easels.
And in the morning, a drop of dew on leaves disguising the porch of your bed. And in the morning, your clothes sang where you cast them off, on the kitchen floor, husk and evidence. [End Page 348]
Perhaps you will remind me there is nothing like milk in these oranges, and nothing in this bowl but soup.
1996. Today all the answers are “yes.” [End Page 349]
daniel lusk is the winner of a 2016 Pushcart Prize and author of five poetry collections, including most recently The Vermeer Suite. His poems, stories, and essays have appeared in New Letters, Poetry Ireland Review, North American Review, Poetry, Prairie Schooner, The Iowa Review, Southern Poetry Review, American Poetry Review, Markings, and more. A new collection of his poems, The Shower Scene from Hamlet, is scheduled for release in 2017. Daniel lives in Vermont with his wife, Irish poet Angela Patten.
