Poetry: “I squeezed the world like a tangerine” by Ruby Maghoney
Ruby Maghoney invites us into a suddenly visceral space with the image of squeezing the tangerine, but then quickly pivots, pressing us as readers to juxtapose this deeply physical and intimate image with an immediate pivot to implications of loss and lack. The poem stays in this space, deftly evoking the body in a way that at times feels uncomfortable, verging on body horror, but it is this felt nature that allows us to really dig into this poem, giving us a pipeline into the human soul not seen since Kafka’s The Metamorphosis or Being John Malkovich.
I squeezed the world like a tangerine
and I was surprised to be still thirsty, lacking
everything. The flesh stained underneath
my crooked nails and left a crust so sparkling
I couldn’t help but start to pick and tear,
starting with one layer but then I kept going.
All of my skin peeled like a squash, and I was left
salted, something hideous, something happy,
finally bleeding.
everything. The flesh stained underneath
my crooked nails and left a crust so sparkling
I couldn’t help but start to pick and tear,
starting with one layer but then I kept going.
All of my skin peeled like a squash, and I was left
salted, something hideous, something happy,
finally bleeding.
Ruby Maghoney
Ruby Maghoney is a Filipina-American graduate from University of Alabama at Birmingham. Zealous for life— she can be found at foureyedbutterfly.com, on stage, or at the piano.
