after peel, let your tongue catch
any drips––
there’s more to oranges
than membrane.
There’s seeds.
& sometimes jewel-sheened
flesh can shiver.
(Use your teeth
delicately.)
Precision is key with mouths
and fumbling parts
into them. Don’t forget
about lips
the hold
& pull close.
When it comes to the tang
in the back of your throat:
swallow.
Start again––
slight tongue
-tip pressure,
lips parted
(never mind the slight bitterness
of pericarp).
There’s just so much you don’t know
about citrus.
Roseanna Alice Boswell is a poetry MFA candidate at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Her work has appeared or will appear soon in: Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Capulet Magazine, Glittermob, and elsewhere. Roseanna is currently acting as Managing Editor for the Mid-American Review. You can find her on Twitter @swellbunny posting about feminism and her love of exclamation points.