The Sweetest Oranges in Town

No, I am not deformed.

I wear these socks

Because I haven't any gloves,

And my fingers are bitten with frost.

They feel like stumps.

Luckily, I finished covering

The citrus tree with sheets of burlap.

Before darkness,

I will light a smudge pot

Near the mummified trunk,

Then anoint my hands in a blue salve.

Yesterday was cold

But the freeze is on now.

I must remind myself

Not to lick any cars.

Mr. Nishizawa, a house over,

Told me his nephew

Lost a fourth of his tongue

For that reason. Years ago,

The rosebushes were ruined to a freeze

And have never come back.

If needed, I will stay up all night

And pray, will let the hoarfrost

Burn in my chest. My grandfather

Ate the yield from this tree

After he died. I saw him.

Copyright Credit: Rick Noguchi, "The Sweetest Oranges in Town" from The Ocean Inside. Copyright © 1996 by Rick Noguchi. All rights are controlled by the University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. Used by permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press.

Source: The Ocean Inside (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1996)