Although the month of February is about going the extra mile in expressions of love to others, I’ve found that when love appears out of nowhere and speaks in hushed tones, the impact is greatest. More often than not, this happens in the simple and mundane areas of life and this theme is majorly expressed through the poem “The Orange” by Wendy Cope.
Born in 1945, Cope grew up in Kent, England and throughout her childhood her parents would often recite poetry. This stuck with Cope as she progressed through life, earning a BA in history and training as a teacher at Oxford. She taught in many primary schools before publishing her first collection of poems, “Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis” in 1986. It was in this collection that Cope established her own particular ways of writing in using parody, word play, and humor to address grave topics. Among her poetry collections, she’s the author of many children’s books and anthologies and has been internationally recognized in earning the Cholmondeley Award and a Michael Braude Award in the category of Light Verse from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2010, she was awarded an Order of the British Empire – a highly prestigious accomplishment – and is a Fellow of the Royal Society in Literature. Her poem, “The Orange” appears in her collection entitled “Serious Concerns.”
In this piece, Cope tells a short three-stanza anecdote where the speaker has an orange that they share with their companions. While at first this may seem trivial and pointless, it encompasses the “peace and contentment” one can find in the simple day-to-day tasks of life. Especially when they’re shared with people they love. Whenever I read this poem my mind goes back to Thanksgiving break of 2022. I had opted to stay on campus to begin the arduous journey that is final papers and projects. This didn’t happen as I got sick (fever, sore throat, the works) and had to stay cooped up in my dorm room for the duration of the break. I was alone for most of the time, so if I wasn’t drinking herbal tea or Vitamin C drink packets I was either sleeping or attempting to do so. Needless to say, I wasn’t very hungry so I barely ate anything. In the evenings one of my closest friends would stop by to check on me and see if I needed anything. Now, I am notoriously difficult when it comes to being taken care of but because I had no voice and couldn’t talk, I couldn’t argue when she brought me Gatorade and pain medication. During the times that she would be there the question “have you eaten?” would always pop up. After answering “no” every single time, she would then sit on my floor and an orange seemed to magically appear out of nowhere which she then peeled and broke into sections, giving them to me piece by piece as I laid in bed, listening to her talk and taking more than a few seconds to swallow every bite. With every section she handed me I felt, rather than heard, the words “I love you. I’m glad I exist.” Each piece a moment of clarity, of vulnerability, of love.
With all the hustle and bustle of school contrasted with the lull of breaks, I sometimes forget how fulfilling it is to love another person. It’s almost as if the last line of the poem were written so as to leave an afterthought. “I love you. I’m glad I exist. I’m glad I exist so that I can love you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do so.”
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