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Orange and Book - Raphaelle Peale, Circa 1817 Aka What Writing Poems Feels Like

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Inspired by the painting Orange and Book by Raphaelle Peale. Viewing the painting required for the orange. It's an art I have perfected Studied long and hard for With utmost concentration The perfect peeling of an orange I sit, with intention to read But instead, slowly and with precision the orange is peeled My mind is focussed yet unencumbered There must be no breaks or jagged edges Surgical precision with matching artistic flair A spiral of orange peel But I am left with the pith In my efforts for the exquisite I have made an error The fruit is tough, with bitter taste With beauty to be discarded There are regrets I could have read, rather than be so deeply entrenched in thought This perfection mocks me I shall leave it here There is nothing more I want My mood has spiralled into petty attacks There sits the book, the perfect spiral of peel and the knife for all eternity Perfection never tasted so foul

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John Lawless

Date: 4/13/2023 4:31:00 AM

...once you reach perfection where do you go from there....very interesting presentation. I, for one, only peel the ones I plan on consuming.

Di11y Da11y
Date: 4/13/2023 4:44:00 AM

There's no such thing as perfect - certainly not in the art of today and I think all of the greats had criticism. I think it's perhaps a thankless task. Better to only get involved in the peeling if your prize is the orange like you say :)