Theseus' Cargo

Ari Vergen

citrus walls emptied look within

the peel I mean the orange peel

touch juices slipping down the sides recall

the meat was ripped away the way

we would pluck a strangled goose

feathers stuck under nails under

white rind from this vacant cave

I mean the orange, peeled

peel empty is it still an orange the same

way the strangled goose is still a goose I mean does the orange stop

being the orange

even when a goose loses

feathers and breath it’s

a goose but

dead I mean I feel the torn

tendons in these slices and the

seeds leak from its plucked chest so w

hen does the orange

stop being a

goose