Th Finney's Poem 'Orangerie'

“Orangerie” as a poem uses only vivid, sensual images and unspoken innuendo to convey the feelings and sensations that Nikky Finney has assigned to love, and to making love. Finney explores a different sex, without explicitly describing it in as many words. She chooses to portray sexuality as something that is powerful, sweet, and almost essential, like fruit and sugar.

In the majority of modern romance novels and movies, sex, as well as a woman’s body, is not shielded by any means, being physically shown, or described in painful detail. While this achieves the desired effect with those who are thirsty for their own shallow, sexual satisfaction, this leaves nothing to the imagination of the audience and puts a limit on how deeply love can affect the individual. Finney has left more to be interpreted by the reader. She presents events and pictures in lieu of the physical sensations of touch and sex that in turn become associated with love and sex.

While avoiding lustful description, Finney chooses to play on the appetite of lovers, making it feel similar to physical hunger, to relate the desired feelings of necessity. Fruit can be sour or sweet, causing the mouth to water even at the thought. This gives a sense of anticipation that is much more physical and understood by people as a whole because hunger is universal. In this way, so is love. Finney compares one of the lovers to “-two halves of a pink grapefruit, skinned-”, “-two pineapple halves-”, and “the inside flesh of a new coconut-”. By describing the woman only as “two halves” automatically evokes the image of breasts, which are thought of as beautiful and womanly, while remaining organic and natural. Making the grapefruit halves “skinned” then “the inside flesh of a new coconut” mimics the bareness of love, unable to cover any imperfections and being exposed and