Bob Heman | ORANGE (I) & (II)

ORANGE (I)

We are told that oranges are orange, by definition. No other is defined in this way. We cannot hold a blue or a purple or a red or a brown in our hands. We cannot open anything but an orange to find more of it hiding inside.

ORANGE (II)

The word unfolds itself across the page, allowing the meaning that is revealed to spill over the edges into your life. In this way the difference between “orange” (the color) and “orange” (the fruit) is able to be comprehended, and to become part of the room you will henceforth inhabit.

Bob Heman (Photo by Lori Rogers)

Bob Heman’s words have been translated into Spanish, Arabic, Farsi, Italian and Hungarian. His prose poem “Perfect” is included in A Cast-Iron Aeroplane That Can Actually Fly: Commentaries from 80 Contemporary American Poets on Their Prose Poetry (MadHat Press, 2019). His essay, “Dreaming for Caresse,” is included in Seeing with Eyes Closed: The Prose Poems of Harry Crosby (Quale Press, 2019), which also features one of his collages on the cover.