Two oranges by Robert Talbot
Alexis McDonald
I am sitting in art class in third grade
across from Waleed
while we learn about the color wheel
he says his favorite color is orange
and I realize that his short stature
and dark hair and mine
are the same as we stare at each other
while our teacher uses Smartboard pens
to draw connections between complementary colors
how blue and orange are across from each other, too
and I wonder if Waleed is orange and I am blue
or if I am orange and why don’t I know it
and what other complements we must have like
does he pick out his clothes in the morning
like I do at night
does his brother make him play house and
does he have to be dad
like I have to be mom
and is his favorite candy sour
when mine is sweet
we each get a blank color wheel
when he goes for the red pencil
I grab the yellow one
we trade after we shade the wedges in
back and forth
he nods at me as we work
and I wonder now instead
if Waleed likes orange
because it reminds him of
the knafeh that his grandmother
makes for his birthday
like it reminds me of
my grandmother’s pumpkin roll
served only for mine
Lexi McDonald (she/her) is a senior English Literature and Creative Writing double major at Susquehanna University and enjoys reading, writing, teaching, and traveling. Much of her work incorporates vivid sensory imagery with trauma and topics of social justice and feminism, and these are her most rewarding pieces. She plans to go on to graduate school for creative writing and would collect degrees if she could afford it. Instead (or in addition), she intends to challenge young writers to be deliberate about their passions and futures in writing, and encourage them to write until they surprise themselves, and then keep writing.
Issue 15
2022