Orange Sonnets
O
syringe rhymes with orange
so does "oh home on our range"
though deer & buffalo graze
not on oranges but greens!
i dream a giant orange in my head
but in my head orange is less round
than a chirping bird or a sunbathing
bicycle will i wake to orange rain
trotting vastly through the orange
orchard? orange car goes by!
orange as a color disturbs me
this is why i'm not a painter!
orange was the color of her dress!
please arrange some oranges in that bowl
R
a tanager sky like a mudlark on fire
strange weather a tepid swill
of Orange Pekoe the arrangement bowls
me over! an orange surprise o
orange shadow my dream a giant Jaffa
rolling down the aisle of the Valhalla
trotting vastly towards the Blues Brothers
the film going orange with age an
aging orange! green tinge of mould
growing loudly Minnie The Moocher!
orange was the color of her dress
could the mind turn from jade to orange?
this afternoon is an endangered species
orange snow is falling it is 5:17 p.m.
A
in my dream i'm nowhere to be found
it's daylight mosquitoes are stuck in the fog
like a parade of orange flags i'm restless
buffeted by a restless wind o vast
orange library blue shadows prise the air
tinged with fragments of orange fever
the parrots are restless drums are beating
in the distance orange was the colour
of Jane's dress could the mind turn
from Jane to orange? binge rhymes with
orange & so does flange now grange would
like to get in on the act strange days abound!
squares of orange light are thrown about
its time for a coffee & feel a little tedious!
N
in the year of navel gazing giant Jaffa's
are coming to a theatre near you! strange
weather bowls me over a breeze en forme
de orenge great to wake & be variously alive
o vast shadows could the mind turn blue
from the cold? in todays mail an invitation
from the Kyneton Croquet Club! Open Day!
with my lucky orange ball i play off last!
a roquet here a roquet there! ah! that old
orange magic has me in its spell a timely
fog engulfs the tang & zest crowding the hour
i'm free to snooze but its orange behind
my eyelids in this light! jaundice? orange
plague? can the mind turn & set in amber?
G
let eggs equal eggs sunny side up!
a vast atmosphere idles by unaware of lunch
time is aging orange paint is peeling off
that cloud carrots are a restless orange
a tepid swirl growing loudly through
the year of navel gazing could the mind
turn from swill to zest? great to be
variously alive The Fables of Forbes!
Pithecanthropus Erectus! The Black Saint
and the Sinner Lady! Orange was the Colour
of Her Dress! please arrange some oranges
on that bass! o fleeing shadow that navel
is gazing elsewhere! without my orange
tinted glasses the world is black & white
E
a sonnet is not an orange nothing rhymes
with lozenge o vast perfect world avast!
look around blue shadows surprise the air
a kumquat sky strange days bound in amber
un ambre absolu! mosquitoes stuck in a fog
of orange flags a blizzard of oranje petals
falling for spring as i fell for spring goodbye
winter! a good day for a coffee & a cake
at the Red Beard Bakery the blancmange
is off! tinged with fragments of orange fever!
frappes! perhaps! je vais avoir l'orange
tarte! orange was the colour of her dress
why don't you stop look around revenge
is nothing if nothing rhymes with orange
Notes: i've met the last straw! on the Steven Fry show QI
Fry ventured "nothing rhymes with orange" the
decontestants threw a few almost tautologic
neologisms around as answers! not ever taken
much by rhyme i thought it must be more complex
than this! the line had been used by Ted Berrigan
in his Sonnets also Laurie Duggan used it in his 4
homage Sonnets to Ted Berrigan so too Gilbert
Sorrentino in his book "The Orangery" and probably
many others. either i'm not wired rite or it was an
in joke i was not privy to! so when i came up with
the misquote "oh home on our range" a nice rhyme!
i was away on a "revenge" for rhyme! i intended
only one sonnet but the sonnet ended up with
so much material to work with i decided i could
use this to make a series adding fresh material
as i went along plus adding plays on odd lines
from my previous set of Sonnets a la Berrigan.
thanks to Laurie Duggan/Kris Hemensley/Ken
Bolton for advice and support. some things in
here need a few notes "orange car goes by"
is a misquote from Jack Collum's book "Red
Car Goes By" & "that is why i'm not a painter"
is a probable misquote of Frank O'Hara &
"orange was the colour of her dress" is a tune
by Charlie Mingus & the Blues Brothers film
was screened every Friday night for many
years at the Valhalla Cinema in Richmond
& "Jane" is Tarzan's Co Star! & "orenge" is
old French i thought near right for the Satie
misquote & " the Kyneton Croquet Club" is about
3 doors up from where i live (the invitation is
factual!) according to one set of rules Orange
ball plays last & "let eggs equal eggs" is a play
on Laurie Anderson's "Let x equal x" & a list of
Charlie Mingus works one "The Fables of Faubus"
misquoted i was thinking of John Forbes & "avast!
look around" is a misquote from an old rock song
it returns later near the end more closely quoted
& "oranje" is Dutch it comes just after the word
"blizzard" after "Orange Blizzard" a book by
Cornelis Vleeskens & "The Red Beard Bakery"
is in Trentham just down the road we have
coffee and cake there often usually on a Sunday
& "blancmange" being a nice off-rhyme with
Orange it was "off" the menu! and so on!