Special Feature: Highlighting Three Memorable Poems About Fruit
- Piece of Cake Staff
- Feb 22
- 3 min read
Written by Sara Spangler
I have begun to realize that food isn’t just something we need to survive—of course, for some, food is simply energy to get through the day. But for others of us, it is something deeper. It is full of creativity, passion, emotion, and connection with others. Just as poetry strings together words in such a way that it hits the deepest parts of ourselves, cooking similarly blends flavors and reminds us of who we really are—we think of our families, the apple slices Dad cut up every day after school, the smell of garlic and rosemary on Thanksgiving morning. Each ingredient in a recipe is much like a word in a poem, a combination of small ordinary things that becomes something totally new and wholly beautiful.
To emphasize this connection, here are three poems by various poets I adore writing about different kinds of fruit, gloriously making me think of summer as these cold winter days go by. Bringing together the artistry of flavor and the sweetness of fruit, these poems speak to the beauty of the mundane, each celebrating the simplicity of eating these fruits and expressing the joy it brings to our everyday lives.
1. The Orange by Wendy Cope
At lunchtime I bought a huge orange—
The size of it made us all laugh.
I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave—
They got quarters and I got a half.
And that orange, it made me so happy,
As ordinary things often do
Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park.
This is peace and contentment. It's new.
The rest of the day was quite easy.
I did all the jobs on my list
And enjoyed them and had some time over.
I love you. I'm glad I exist.
This poem is a celebration of everyday life, as the act of buying an orange and sharing it with friends is something so small, yet incredibly powerful. Cope sees the beauty in how she connects with her friends (explicitly named = further personal connection), spends time with herself, and enjoys her day. Ending on a note of self-love (“I’m glad I exist”), Cope highlights how the true beauty of life lies within the things we often take for granted.
2. This Is Just to Say by William Carlos Williams
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
Simple, straightforward, and heartfelt, Williams speaks to a brief moment in which he confesses to eating plums in the fridge that were not for him. Because of its casual prose, some believe this poem began as a letter to Williams’ wife, expressing his guilt for taking away this simple pleasure from her. Creating a lovely sensory experience in the last stanza, Williams, similarly to Cope, appreciates the simple joy of eating a cold, sweet plum.
3. From Blossoms by Li-Young Lee
From blossoms comes
this brown paper bag of peaches
we bought from the boy
at the bend in the road where we turned toward
signs painted Peaches.
From laden boughs, from hands,
from sweet fellowship in the bins,
comes nectar at the roadside, succulent
peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,
comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.
O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard, to eat
not only the skin, but the shade,
not only the sugar, but the days, to hold
the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into
the round jubilance of peach.
There are days we live
as if death were nowhere
in the background; from joy
to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
from blossom to blossom to
impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.
Again, Lee speaks to the loveliness of summer through the experience of buying fresh peaches. In writing from the perspective of “we” (“dust we eat,” “in our hands”), Lee emphasizes the connection that this experience brings about, and how it makes it easy to momentarily forget about the harder things in life.
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