Gene McCormick- Poem & Art

Orange Crush:

May To September Summer Romance

1.

Used to be, summers past, mid-day refreshment

meant leveraging a stamped-on metal cap

off a slim-bodied clear-glass bottle of

Orange Crush, improvising with

whatever passed for an opener,

and draining it in one gulp.

2.

Compared to a bottle of caramel-colored

Diet Pepsi or Diet Coke, non-diet, no-caffeine

Orange Crush is a succulent assault

almost too tasty to swallow.

Complementing the flavor, the twenty fluid ounce

plastic bottle is south-of-the-border festive

compared with dark-cloud-grey designed

containers marketed by goliath competitors.

Give Crush props for its see-through plastic body,

modestly if only partially concealing content

with an upper body peel-off wrapper

illustrated by an orange slice squirting

refreshing droplets like rays from the sun.

Bright orange bubbly translucent ounces

show through, unlike opaque bottles of juices,

for Orange Crush contains zero natural juice,

its ingredients including:

high fructose corn syrup, citric acid,

sodium benzoate, acacia and estel gum,

yellow 6, salt and additional makings

sounding unpalatable yet blending

into lively swallows of lip-and-tongue

staining orange coloring (along with

270 calories per bottle).

The ensemble is topped with a

jaunty green plastic screw cap which seems

easier to twist off than Pepsi or Coke.

Maybe not.

Tipping the bottle back—it has a concave

lower body for a sure grip—

to drain the last drops of orange,

thirst is quenched

and the hell with 270 calories. 


Gene McCormick is a writer who paints without preference for either discipline.  His art is in private and commercial collections and he has illustrated a number of books.  He is the illustrator for Misfitmagazine.net.