Christmas Oranges by Jack Little

Christmas Oranges

The Christmas sun is a hot orange, smudgy-rotten
and filled juicy with cool volcano dust, puffy spits
of white seed, and wee ones smoking a crafty fag
in the back lane, bragging of sex exploits and violence.

We prepare trout with almonds, beetroot with apple
whisking ourselves around the kitchen, finding gaps
between the onward rush of steam, a familiar-strange
happiness grown spherical above our tangled roots and borders.

Later, the pot boils coffee bliss and calmness beds down
laughing softly as the baby shares a frank exchange of glances
for which no language is necessary. There is no gloom here,
even the moon’s rays are striking hush on our peripheries.

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Jack Little is a British-Mexican writer, translator and teacher who started The Ofi Press firstly to have an excuse to contact his favourite writers from around the world and also as a means to give exposure to young Mexican writers by publishing their work in both English and Spanish. Jack is a poet, teacher, translator, founder of The Ofi Press Mexico City and Tweets @theofipress.