Yep, I’m behind the times again – I’m well in to term two of my creative writing class. We’ve lost two members and gained one, but it’s nice that almost everyone returned. Before half-term, we were asked to write something based on fruit, after being given the verse A Kumquat for John Keats to read. I’m not great at poetry (that’s both writing it and understanding it) so I found it quite difficult and felt I needed to apologise before reading it out! However, it was well-received (which was a lovely, and unexpected, surprise).
Here is my poem. It’s called Ugli By Name (though it was suggested it should be dedicated to Tony Harrison who wrote the poem it was based on):
Mother Nature, o true apothecary!
What wondrous flavours did you marry
in a grapefruit and a tangerine,
with flesh of orange and skin of green?
A pair of star-crossed Jamaican lovers
who met under sun-kissed earthen covers.
Shakespeare mused, “What’s in a name?” –
I find myself pondering upon the same:
the Ugli fruit is an exotic treat
which, by any other name, would taste as sweet.
Tangelo, I’ve shared a name with you,
for I was once called ugly, too.
I was surprised to find that ‘Ugli’ fruit is a tradename and that they are actually a tangelo – so yet again, I have learned more than just a writing technique. I also learned today that peaches grow in Canada!