Here is the image for the February Invite to Write:
Our symbol for this month is the Lemon.
In a romantic context, Lemons and their predecessor the citron are associated with everlasting love and marriage in the cultures of Rome, Greece, Japan, and Roman-era Judaism. Lemons also were seen by both Subsaharan and Egyptian cultures as a medicine or antidote. The Chinese and Jews both thought of the lemon as being of divine origin. In the case of the Chinese, the lemon was one of the three sacred fruits alongside the peach and the pomegranate while the Jews thought that the "goodly tree" of the Old Testament was a lemon tree. These associations with divinity alongside the pleasing aroma of the lemon itself meant that not only was the lemon popular ingredient but the juice of the lemon could clean one's home or bless a holy space.
However, the lemon's bitterness could have negative connotations as well. A popular expression in the northeastern United States in the late 19th and early 20th century was to "hand [someone] a lemon" which meant to hand someone a rejection or lesser outcome than they hoped for. Often handing a lemon was a euphemism specifically for a woman rejecting the advances of a man. The popularity of this phrase even raised the ire of the lemon industry, which complained that the phrase sullied the reputation of "the very best friend we have in the line of fruit." However, the lemon got its revenge, as "handing a lemon" was overwhelmed in common usage later in the century by the phrase "turning lemons in lemonade."
Think about how the natural world bestows us with beautiful scents, smells, and flavors. Do you think that these natural pleasures bring us closer to your own idea of the divine? Do you connect more with the lemon as divine, as romantic, as an insult, or the maybe the very definition of bittersweet? Do you find the lemon's flavor an encapsulation of the proximity of our joy and sorrow? Are you intrigued by how the lemon's bitterness, can instead highlight other flavors, allowing them to shine even brighter than when they are alone?
Happy writing!
Lemon
You recede
Into insignificance,
And your inflated lemon
So bitter
Meant to skidoo
Has filled me
With freedom to choose
Someone sweeter than you.
Your bitter lemon
In my hands is the unrecognized
Sweet lemon of burden free.
It carries seeds you cannot see.
They are the seeds of promise
And potential blossoming into
Someone true and not you.
As you recede
Into insignificance,
I accept my unexpected prize
With grateful adieu to your skidoo.
Lemon Tree
This year the spiny lemon tree
That you, with skillful hand,
Once pruned and watered
With slow dripping hose;
This year,
Produced a multitude of gay
Small yellow globes
With thin dry seeds
And scarcely any juice,
Then died.
This year, the year that finally
We parted.
Big Lemon
Yes, it’s a big lemon
I barely have a grip
I hope that I don’t lose it
I hope that it won’t slip.
The medium’s the message
But this one’s very large
I’ll drop it at his feet
To show him who’s in charge
My Valentine? No! No you’re not!
We’re through, you’ve been too creepy
You never loved me I know now
And I’m over being weepy.
It’s a sour fruit to say
This ain’t alpha, it’s omega!
It’s the biggest lemon I could find
At the One Stop bodega.
So here you go you s.o.b.
A Valentine right bitter
It’s my adios for now and ever
The sourer the fitter.