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Write a poem rhyming the word “orange” with something else. Post it in the comments below. This challenge comes from Cheryl Corey, who provided the below poem as inspiration:

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Nothing Rhymes With Orange

Why, oh why, does nothing rhyme with orange?
But if I say it en franҫais—“l’orange,”
Aha! I get a woman’s name—“Solange!”
     but back to orange …

Maybe I can fudge it? For example:
By candlelight her face was even more angelic;
The Rolling Stones once wrote a song for Angie;
The tourist’s choice: Rhône valley or Anjou.

I rack my brain and these are but a sample,
The options being few and hardly ample,
Which leads me where? Where else,
     but back to orange.

.

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109 Responses

  1. Troy Camplin

    Mating Ritual

    The sun shined slivers from its gold-orange
    Sphere, breaking through the trees as to avenge

    The makers of Stonehenge, tied to the sun
    And sun-made oaks, in cloaks that hands had spun,

    Ensuring purity with their pure hands,
    Hands pure from human blood as the demands

    Of deity are met, to find the one
    That does not rhyme a match — or is there none? —

    A match that doesn’t match and therefore makes
    A more engaging mate, until it takes

    Its final line of light below the lip
    Of land and light releases its last grip.

    Reply
  2. Peter Hartley

    Good old King William of Orange
    Said “All of my subjects are foreignj-
    Ust ‘cos I’m Dutch,
    They don’t like me much,
    So I think I’ll head back to Orange.”

    Reply
    • Cheryl Corey

      Interesting take, and I like the way your play on “back to Orange”.

      Reply
  4. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    Nothing Rhymes with ORANGE!!

    I’m foraging for words that rhyme with orange.
    No poet worth a verse could fail to meet
    A challenge that would make the lesser scribe cringe –
    Unhinge and singe a mind not used to heat.

    I’ve sucked a lozenge as I’ve scaled The Blorenge,
    Impinging on the fringe of nature’s worth
    For inspiration; all I found was ‘sporange’ –
    a nerdy term for fern – a wordsmith’s curse!

    I scavenge for a stringent orange melange
    And I won’t wail or whinge although I burst
    For more than mere obstringe, syringe, or door hinge –
    Cringeworthy words that fail to slake my thirst.

    I won’t settle for a mangy tangerine
    When a juicy orange stanza is my dream.

    NB
    The Blorenge – a mountain in Monmouthshire, S E Wales
    sporange – a botanical term for part of a fern
    or whinge – mispronunciation of orange 😉

    Reply
    • Cheryl Corey

      Susan, yours may be the closest yet. Do “Blorenge” and “sporange”, when pronounced, qualify as exact rhymes?

      I found it maddening to come up with the words which, when elided, would sound even close to orange. So many highly-skilled poets visit this site. I knew that I would be out-done!

      P.S. I love your ending couplet.

      Reply
      • Susan Jarvis Bryant

        Thank you, Cheryl. What a great challenge with a great inspirational poem to spur us poets on. I love all the responses. I think ‘Blorenge’ and ‘sporange’ qualify as exact rhymes. The tough task was fitting them into a poem that made some sort of sense… I don’t think I’ve quite succeeded, but I had a lot of fun trying. Thanks again!

      • C.B. Anderson

        But, Susan, isn’t the botanical term actually “sporangium?”

  5. Brian Yapko

    In cockney if ‘arry says “apples and pears”
    ‘E’s really describing a walk down the stairs.
    If I ‘aggle a bit with me “trouble and strife”
    I’m really addressing my dear ‘appy wife”
    So now will you join me for gin and an orange?
    Oh, blimey, I’ve broken the lock and the door ‘inge!

    Reply
    • Cheryl Corey

      Really well done, Brian, especially if you read it aloud and try to get into a cockney groove. Clever that you thought to rhyme orange with “door ‘inge”.

      Reply
    • Jeff Eardley

      Brian, I couldn’t Adam and Eve that you could write in cockney. I am just waiting for my trouble and strife to sort her Barnet Fair before nipping down to the Indian for a Ruby Murray. Brilliant verse.

      Reply
      • Brian Yapko

        I only know a couple of cockney phrases so I actually had to go to google to translate your incomprehensibly fun comment. I hope your Ruby Murray was delicious. Shabba ranks, Jeff!

    • Mike Bryant

      Two Ronnies Cockney List

      Order four candles
      Seven fork ‘andles
      Twenty door ‘inges
      Forty oranges…

      Thanks Brian!

      Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Brian, how innovative and hilarious… if only I’d have thought of the cockney path to orange success! My dad’s a cockney and I’ve learned a lot of cockney rhyming slang. Cockneys always drop their aitches. My rather posh mother reprimanded my dad for that ‘orrible ‘abit, so he decided to add inappropriate Haitches. I roared with laughter at his Helephants, Happles, and Hanything Helse Hamusing ‘eaded my way.

      Reply
      • Brian Yapko

        Thank you, Susan. That’s a fantastic family story! Might there be a humorous poem lurking in there…? You could have a lot of fun writing it!

    • Tamara Beryl Latham

      Yeah Brian, the cockney accent works. As Hyacinth Bouquet’s brother-in-law on the British sitcom “Keeping Up Appearances says: “Nice.” LOL!

      Reply
      • Tamara Beryl Latham

        Brian, although I do not want to be included in this orange competition, I offer the following:

        “My rights shall not be infringed.”
        I have turned from pale red to deep orange.
        He attacked me with a Covid syringe,
        and kept jabbing until I came unhinged.

        (LOL! AS music to Psycho is playing)

      • Brian Yapko

        Thanks, Tamara! I thoroughly enjoyed your poem as well!

  6. Julian D. Woodruff

    Said the proud orange to the kiwi,
    “What a shrimp!” But the grapefruit sneered. She
    Then declared to the orange,
    “You’ll notice my four inch-
    Es bests your pedestrian three.”

    (Apologies to the little kiwi for improper accentuation.)

    Reply
  8. Joseph S. Salemi

    The French seized the Saar (1920)
    Because it had coal mines a-plenty.
    The tale has this little addendum:
    The Krauts, in a huge referendum,
    Got it back, but when Hitler was beaten,
    The French (at a big post-war meetin’)
    Took it over once more for ten years
    Until they were paid their arrears.
    Then back to the Germans the place went
    And French underwent an effacement.
    All of these doings were legal —
    The Saar’s under Germany’s eagle.
    It’s tougher than rhyming with orange —
    All of this intricate Saar-change.

    Reply
  9. Paul Freeman

    I was once asked to rhyme the word ‘orange’,
    Believe it or not, with ‘something else’.

    Thank you.

    Reply
  10. Paul Freeman

    When you have a sore throat, it’s best
    to give all kinds of Strepsils a test;
    and I find the lozenge
    that’s flavoured with orange
    tastes better than all of the rest.

    Reply
  12. Toshiji Kawagoe

    He once belonged to a lunatic fringe
    who stood against to the plutocracy
    also detested of hypocrisy
    spit vexingly the pips of an orange.

    But his reckless act made his wings to singe.
    Now he in silence lives out his last days
    in the hospital and blankly does gaze
    at a needle attached to a syringe.

    Reply
  13. David Watt

    The Desserting Captain

    The captain of the Gettysburg, Gorringe,
    Was partial to a jelly-like blancmange
    Partaken lazing on his prized chaise longue,
    Upholstered in a safety vest orange.

    Reply
  14. Jeff Eardley

    A crafty Orangutan sat up a tree,
    And thought, “ I could add an additional ‘e’
    To make my name longer, so happy I’d be,
    “Orangeutan’ sounds very French, you’ll agree.
    So pleased with himself,
    As he chomped a blood orange,
    Then he sat on some embers,
    Which made his poor arse singe.

    Reply
  15. Camilla Marx

    Antique kitchenware

    Without a manual, I seem
    Quite lost midst pewter’s aging gleam
    And copper’s fire, and earthen’s dusty-orange.
    Do platters… platt? Seems causable…
    A pitcher’s pitch sounds plausible….
    But I’ll consign to history how to porringe.

    Reply
  16. Sally Cook

    When juicing, Angelo, I think
    It’s best to do it in the sink
    Because it isn’t likely that
    You can escape without a splat
    From any plump and beauteous orange
    That you have sliced in quarters, Ange.

    Reply
  17. Tonia Kalouria

    Orange, smorange — no problema!
    Nash confessed with wink of eye.
    Why, anything can rhyme with something
    When one’s diligent . . . and wry!

    Reply
  18. Sandi Christie

    He bought it from his friend Pedro,
    Assured that God he soon would know.
    An open channel in his mind,
    His inner vision realigned.
    Into the bong, he placed the ganj—
    Then polished off my duck a l’orange.

    Reply
  19. Roy E. Peterson

    SOME WORDS REFUSE TO RHYME
    By Roy E. Peterson (April 13, 2018)

    I know some words refuse to rhyme
    I run across them all the time.
    Try to rhyme a word like “purple.”
    Ned Miller made it “maple surple.”

    We all know orange won’t rhyme in English.
    I guess it makes the word distinguished.
    One word only rhymes with “orange,”
    An alternate form that is called “sporange.”

    Now try to use that in a verse.
    The poem would go from bad to worse.
    A “sporange” is a piece of fern.
    Something that I can’t unlearn.

    The closest word to rhyme with “poem”
    Is from the Bible. It’s “Jeroboam.”
    Some words are close like “home,” or “roam,”
    And I could use a trick like “hoe ’em.”

    “Bulb” won’t rhyme with anything.
    No matter what they do in spring.
    Nothing rhymes with “silver” either.
    Now I am a true believer.

    I use “Angel” all the time,
    But not at the end to rhyme.
    There is no rhyme for “Angel,” so
    I have to change poetic flow.
    A few more with no rhymes observed,
    Are “month” and then three spatial words.
    “Width,” “breadth,” and “depth” don’t match,
    With words from any other batch.

    Poets have to take some time
    To find words that really rhyme.
    Next time I think we’ll discuss
    The coining of “Snuffleupagus.”

    Reply
    • James A. Tweedie

      Roy, you could have titled your poem, “Mission Impossible!” Well done. I liked it.

      Reply
      • Roy E. Peterson

        Excellent thought about the title and thank you for your kind words.

    • Cheryl Corey

      Thanks for this earlier piece, bringing attention to other words that are difficult to rhyme. Food for thought.

      Reply
  20. Kathy Bahr

    Sunday October 31, 2021

    Orange hallow’s day
    Where it leads
    Hollow,
    the pumpkin’s head.
    October’s bugging, staying out.
    Oh, no goulash.
    Around October’s dead.
    It’s the spookiest Halloween.

    Reply
    • Kathy Bahr

      Sunday October 31, 2021

      Orange hallow’s Eve
      Where it leads
      Hollow,
      the pumpkin’s head.
      October’s bugging, staying out.
      Oh, no goulash.
      Around October’s dead.
      It’s the spookiest Halloween.

      Reply
  21. James A. Tweedie

    A rhyme for orange? I can do it!
    Tapped an address on my cell phone,
    Looked the answer up on “Rhyme Zone,”
    Found that you’d all beat me to it!

    Reply
    • Paul Freeman

      Here is no Rhyme Zoning binge.
      I looked up ‘orange’
      in my undersized brain
      and located a ‘lozenge’
      betwixt and betwain
      ‘cringe’, ‘singe’ and ‘tinge’.

      Reply
      • Cheryl Corey

        Love “betwixt and betwain”! The responses to this challenge are certainly impressive.

  22. Paul Freeman

    Of course we all know the old joke:

    A: What rhymes with Orange?
    B: No, it doesn’t!

    Reply
  23. John Plowright

    Scientists at the cutting edge
    Say we should eat more fruit and veg
    But my fear of one citrus fruit
    Has clinically been judged acute
    I know I should not flinch or cringe
    But I’ve no choice with an orange

    Reply
  24. Sondra Rosenberg

    There are at least three more words which don’t really rhyme in English–silver, month, and purple. I’ve incorporated all of them in the following poem:

    A MOTHER OF A TEENAGE DAUGHTER LAMENTS

    She’s turning my hair all silver,
    That daughter I’d like to kill, Ver-
    Onica. Asked for an orange,
    She returned with a car hinge,
    Lisping, “I’m not really a dunth–
    It’s jutht my time of the month.”
    Next, I swear, that little twerp’ll
    Want to have her hair dyed purple.

    Reply
  25. Stuart Jay Silverman

    A SOGGY LAMENT

    Eugene O’Neil, got drunk, and found his face
    In the mirror morphing pink to orange.
    Asked to leave, he shouted, “It’s a disgrace!
    “Why me? Just me? Not a vote to bar Inge!”

    Reply
  26. Lucia Haase

    Angie’s Muse

    One evening on the porch,
    her friends all said “Write more, Ang”,
    inspired by the torch
    of sunset’s rustic orange.

    (Stretching it a bit…’Ang’ is short for Angie.)

    Reply
    • Lucia Haase

      Rewrite with different punctuation…

      Angie’s Muse

      One evening on the porch,
      her friends all said “Write more, Ang,
      inspired by the torch
      of sunset’s rustic orange.”

      Reply
  27. John Plowright

    The poet gave a loud harrumph
    When tasked to rhyme a word with month
    And when he found he had to pilfer
    Some loose-change word to rhyme with silver
    His mood grew darker still.

    But when he found he must interpol
    ate enjambment to accommod
    ate a word to rhyme with purple
    It got under his skin worse than any syringe
    Or being told there was no word
    That he could rhyme with orange

    Reply
  28. Luca D'Anselmi

    I found a magic ring that makes up words.
    It’s multicolored: red and green and orange.
    I picked it up and mustered all my corange
    and slipped it on. How strange. I had a birds-

    eye view of all our English words. Two-thirds
    were uninvented still, and I was soarange
    over streams of etymologies still pourange
    into seas of future meanings, wild herds

    of colorful profanities like whorange,
    strange cities where New Englishish is spoken,
    and universities where wokes speak Woken
    and dye their hair in glorange and in blorange,
    which scientists illegally will clorange
    in labs someday from red, green, and orange.

    Reply
    • Evan Mantyk

      Well done, Mr. D’Anselmi, I think this is the right direction to go with this challenge. See my contribution below.

      Reply
  29. Jack DesBois

    I could dot for de life of be
    dink up a rhybe for orange,
    Until I caught a cold — and, see,
    De rhybe is id by porringe!
    (What’s bore, dis cold is sparing be
    de taste of orange porringe.)

    Reply
  31. Evan Mantyk

    An Encounter with the Rhymes-with-Oranges of Dr. Seuss Land

    by Evan Mantyk

    One day while crossing Dr. Seuss Land,
    I ran into a quite obtuse band
    Of locals who were all one clan,
    Who had what seemed an orange tan
    And all were surnamed Rhymes-with-Orange:
    The dad was Dorange Rhymes-with-Orange,
    The mom was Morange Rhymes-with-Orange,
    The sister Sorange Rhymes-with-Orange,
    The brother Brorange Rhymes-with-Orange.
    Their favorite food? You guessed it—an orange!
    The women wore orange hair buns,
    The men had orange juice in their squirt guns,
    And when they talked they had an accent;
    At first, I didn’t know what they meant.
    When Dorange meant “Go sweep the floor”
    Instead he’d say “Go sweep the florange,”
    When Sorange meant “The time is four,”
    Instead she’d say “The time is fourange,”
    When Brorange meant “The rain will pour”
    Instead he’d say “The rain will pourange,”
    When Morange meant “Please close the door”
    Instead she’d say “Please close the dorange,”
    And Dorange would joke “No don’t close me.”
    Then all would laugh quite happily.
    But when their laughing all died down,
    They all were wearing one large frown.
    As they explained, “We were convicted
    And are from Seuss Land now evicted.
    Someone said we’re too offensive
    And toward our clan they’re reprehensive.
    As if we’re made to hurt some feelings
    Or failed in some strange racial healings!
    They say we look like Puerto Ricans—
    Or did they say like Costa Ricans?
    Or maybe it was like Brazilians—
    No, no, I think it was Sicilians!”
    At any rate, they now faced exile,
    Were clapped in irons and marched in file,
    And this is why we can’t rhyme orange:
    Because they exiled each Rhymes-with-Orange.

    Reply
    • Mia

      Enjoyed reading this, found myself smiling
      at the tanned Rhymes-with -Orange clan!
      Very clever and great sense of humour.

      Reply
    • jd

      This must have extracted quite an effort.
      I have no doubt Dr. Seuss would have
      loved it.

      Reply
  32. Daniel Kemper

    The Golden Gate, a masterpiece for engineers
    isn’t really gold; it’s orange veneers
    approximate a sunset in a slanted way
    and yet there’s something just below cliche —
    the great idea — before it ends in sky
    provoked inspired or engendered by
    the leonine fog, that never grows old
    that leaves a tacky orange rendered gold.

    To make it rhyme, see what’s not there. Combine it with something.
    Internal rhyme:
    1. slant: for engineers/orange veneers
    2. [or eng]endered / [orange] rendered. If one drawls “inspired” out to in-spi-erd, then the “or” can be a stressed syllable. Technically still not perfect, though, because I think a linguist would tell me it’s “en-gendered” and not “eng-endered”.

    Reply
  33. Mia

    “What does it matter,” cried orange turning blue,
    “Why are the great and the good in cahoots and having fun at my expense
    Competing whilst repeating and lamenting
    That the word orange does not have any rhyming counter parts”

    “You know sirs,’ continued orange with aplomb,
    “Just remember I have segments for refreshment,
    And in times gone by an orange was a treat
    Afforded only by the rich
    So for a fruit I am quite unique, quite unsurpassed in vitamin c,
    So lack of rhyme you must forgive’ –

    “My dear cousin just hold on,” said lemon quite forlorn,
    As he longed for that zest in life of being discussed at poetry soirees;
    Instead he always got that – if life gives you lemons rubbish-
    When in truth you should be so lucky.

    Intent on redeeming his maligned reputation, lemon cried,
    ” I the lemon, have all the qualities you mention,
    I have Vitamin c in droves and a piquancy only appreciated by
    Discerning gourmets not to mention orangeade is not a shade on lemonade.
    And furthermore lemon rhymes with melon, felon and er well , well on. ”

    “Oh we know all about citrus fruit,” piped apple ,
    ” It is well known that there is more peel than flesh,
    No ifs or buts about it, apples are the king of fruits
    And rhyme with crumble, mumble , tumble , fumble and
    Er lots more to boot.”

    Banana on hearing the word peel, was quite enraged
    And cried out,” What a palaver, I think you will find that
    Most people prefer banana,
    After all who’s ever heard of orange porridge
    And as for lemon you’re only good for lemon tarts
    And apple you are just talking boring crumble
    I think you will find that banana is the piranha full of mañana.”

    “I beg to disagree cried orange, let me finish, what a shame,
    What a fruit salad you all make, trying to rob me of my fame,
    What a din, must I remind you that orange best rhymes with gin..and tonic!”

    Reply
  34. Mia

    Once I met a stranger
    Dressed in black and orange
    Turns out he was a ranger
    Who came to town to forage
    He asked me for a golden ring
    And took my horse to boot,
    And as he left I heard him sing
    They call me Robin Orange
    And I haven’t seen a town
    So meek and mild
    As this here mount of Blorenge

    Reply
    • Mia

      A few changes. Better or worse?

      Once I met a stranger,
      Dressed in black and orange,
      Turns out he was a ranger
      Who came to town to forage.
      He asked me for my golden ring
      And took my wife as hostage
      And as he rode my horse I heard him sing,
      ‘Tis best to do him homage
      For they called him Robin Orange!
      Then after I shot him down I wept
      For now our town so meek a mild
      Is known as the Mount of Blorenge.

      Reply
  35. Mia

    This is more about how many times you can use the word orange rather than orange rhyming with something.

    A Requiem to Orangium

    Orange was quite fashionable in the eighties,
    I remember orange velvet curtains and orange kaftans,
    Orange sunsets and orange dinnerware;
    We were told that
    ‘The future was bright and the future was orange’
    We just had to seize the day,
    But alas it turned out to be a lie
    For the future is bleak and the future is tinged with grey
    Smeared with the sludge of plague.

    Now I think three is enough.
    I am going to shut the doorange on it now.
    But please don’t ask me to promise…

    Reply
  37. Kehinde Margret Makinde

    For a change I went to the Blorenge
    In Ardha Padmansana with the grunge
    My first out of body experience was lunge
    As my soul and its passion Singe
    While my mind a celestial sponge
    I met talking borage
    And had courage however derange
    I and that world became a plunge
    I kept this is my vessel’s storage.

    Reply
  38. Sarah Hills

    ORANGE

    The problem, it seems, is that there’s hardly a word
    That isn’t plain wrong or extremely absurd
    That rhymes with that fruit, with its name and its hue
    It’s easy to rhyme with red, pink, green and blue
    But what about orange, yes, orange I ask
    For me this has been an impossible task
    Porridge and Borage and lozenge aren’t right
    And for weeks now I’ve tried with all of my might
    But nothing is coming that isn’t absurd
    I really just think that there isn’t a word

    Reply
  39. Dr. Rubeena Anjum

    in this basket are oranges
    the one for my dad is Dorange
    for my mom is Morange
    for my sister is Soorange
    for my brother is Borange
    for my grandpa is Goorange
    for my grandma is Joorange
    for my friend is Foorange
    and one left for me is Zorange

    Reply
  40. Robert James Liguori

    When I say ‘orange’
    Please think red!
    See if you can get this,
    In your head.

    “It’s so simple.”
    That’s what I said…
    “A trip to the store,
    For an apple so orange!”

    Reply
  41. Robert Liguori

    Doesn’t rhyme but you inspired me nonetheless…
    Chariot’s Pumpkins

    Chariot is a delightful dragon,
    She sits upon a healthy pumpkin patch.
    She gifts them out to friends by wagon,
    But sometimes puzzled by when eggs will hatch.

    You see her nested eggs are orange too,
    And they are mixed in with rows of pumpkins.
    So sometime when she loads the wagon a few…
    Of her children head to the town of Thumbkin!

    The mayor did decree that all children meld,
    And from this end marriages did occur.
    And all prejudices so promptly fell,
    Upon times, Chariot would speak her word…

    “Pumpkins and children are one and the same,
    ‘Natures true beauty’, the name of the game!”

    Reply
  42. Stephen Kingsnorth

    The Compleat Angler

    Eyes peeled for wary muskellunge,
    a gentle bowl of fruitless bait,
    that still-life time framed by The Lake.

    Sent pithy comments from the bank,
    as I missed lunge, my skewer pike,
    cling sodden cloth within my boots,
    a sponge for wringing, plunge where sank.

    Too sinking feeling, close of day,
    glow fire ball in satsuma sky,
    ceramic pillar, water course,
    scroll down, dying, blood-red, orange.

    Reply
  43. Daniel Galef

    This was published some years ago in Light:

    I loose the bolt, and ope the door hinge
    Looking for a rhyme for “Orange.”
    I’ll hunt until at last I score, in j-
    Ust the place, a rhyme for “Orange.”
    ’Til then I’ll, like a carnivore, ing-
    Est the fruit of no more Orange.
    If I start now, in April, or in J-
    Une, will I have rhymed the Orange?
    It’s rarer than the Koh-i-Noor in J-
    Ahan’s Court, this rhyme for “Orange.”
    Could it be there are no more? (In j-
    Est I ask. A twin for “Orange”
    Shall be found. Yes, rhymes galore in j-
    Okebooks lurk to pair with “Orange.”)
    I’ll find the oath that Brutus swore in J-
    Ulius Caesar, ere rhyme “Orange,”
    Find Poe’s Lost Lenore before ing-
    Eniously I rhyme with “Orange!”
    I’ve pried apart each flower’s sporange—
    Still I seek the rhyme for Orange.
    From the Obelisk of Gorringe
    To the purple peaks of Blorenge,
    Everest, McKinley, or Rinj-
    Ani, I will rhyme the Orange!
    But, ’til then, I won’t rest, nor enj-
    Oy a tasty, un-rhymed Orange.
    Wedging more and ever more enj-
    Ambment, just to rhyme with “Orange.”

    Reply
  44. Mia

    May I post a haiku? sorry it does not rhyme!

    the sky glows orange
    over a mellow orchard
    -windfalls of sunshine

    Reply
    • Mia

      Not sure about the third line
      perhaps this is better

      The sky glows orange
      Over a golden harvest
      -the taste of warm bread

      Reply
      • Mia

        an orange sunset
        over a verdant vineyard
        the taste of sour grapes

  45. Carl Kinsky

    Assonance

    “It means getting the rhyme wrong.” Willy Russell, Educating Rita (1980)

    Doggerel struggles with words like “month”
    To a degree far greater than nth.
    “Orange” we pronounce “arrange” –
    An expedient change,
    Rhyme scheme saved through lisps and assonanth.

    Reply
  46. James H Sutton

    Of Flies & Sonnets.

    Because it has a shape, it has a sting
    with durability derived from form.
    From amber circumambient, it brings
    more meaning forth than first, when it was born.
    Critics who swarm at them, that race of flies
    whom Nature has compelled to suck a wound,
    are blind to how warm feeling also dies
    when feeling, made explicit, is entombed.
    In resinous expression, poets know
    the Limit that immures them in Its rage,
    but learning “limits” urges them to go
    beyond mere limits lurking on the page.
    Like T. E. Lawrence, also called “E’Loranj,”
    each poet is herself a rhyme for orange.

    Reply
  47. Karlene Ghadianloo

    Oh strange-
    Orange…
    You’re fruitlessly left on your own
    Living in dictionaries sans one rhyme known

    Oh strange-
    Orange
    Sweet yet all alone is bittersweet, and still-
    You are much loved before and after a-peel

    Reply
  49. Leland James

    A Rap on “Earthtone” Orange
    —borinage: noun, an “earthtone” orange

    Borinage, with orange a rhyme
    —a word for that “earthtone” crime

    that ick upon the urban sprawl
    that makes a color slowly crawl.

    “High tone,” I know, they say.
    I like a lively orange, anyway;

    bright orange for me, a sunny smile,
    beats borinage orange a country mile.

    Reply
  51. Bunny

    Dear Leland James,

    I really like your poem! It is quite funny. I think the fact that you took the words orange and boring to make a nonce word was really creative!

    Ever yours,
    M.E.K

    Reply
  52. Lauren

    Everything Rhymes with Orange

    Everything Rhymes with Orange,
    If nothing is the rule,
    It rather sounds like arrange,
    Aren’t accents cool?

    Everything rhymes with Orange,
    With an accent see?
    As long as you are foreign,
    All you need is G.

    Reply
  53. Bill Kitchens

    Hi, all (if anyone still looks at this thread)

    I just discovered this site and, homebound on a nasty day, I decided to try the “Orange Challenge”. Truth is, I am more of a punster than a poet, but here goes:

    WHAT IS LIKE UNTO ORANGE?
    (The Color, Not the Man)

    The Holy Grail of this armchair knight
    Is a mate for poor lonely oran-g-g-
    Orange. (Pardon my st-stuttering)

    I took the quest, not in pride nor in j-j-
    Jest. (Pardon my st-stuttering)

    Heedless of drought or rain; g-g-
    Gee, did it rain! (Pardon my st-stuttering)

    Daunted not by river nor rang-g-
    Range. (Pardon my st-stuttering)

    Deep I delved, blind to ore an g-g-
    Gems. (Pardon my st-stuttering)

    So, what is like unto ‘Orange’?
    Nothing, I g-g-
    Give up! (Pardon my stuttering)

    Bill

    Reply
  54. Gary

    Rhymes with Orange

    Cheryl please stop your impatient whinge
    regarding couplings with the word orange.
    While, its rhyming use would lie on the fringe,
    please do not let dogmatic thoughts impinge
    on the creative muse; let’s instead binge
    on ideas: None of us need be a stinge.
    Please, lapse not into a mental twinge
    or rhymes like mine,which will make you cringe.

    Reply
  55. Joshua C. Frank

    All I can think of are:

    Slant rhymes (such as “porridge,” “door hinge,” etc.)
    Eye rhymes (such as “mange,” “range,” “change,” etc.)
    Jabberwocky-style made-up words (an example would be “glorange,” pronounced to rhyme with orange)
    Changing the word “orange” slightly (e.g., “oranger” and “porringer”)

    In short, if we relax the rules, it can be done easily.

    Reply
  56. . Theresa Dould Cummings

    What rhymes with orange?

    My 6 year old grandchild remarked the other day.
    Why, another orange!
    I, trying to get into the act, said, how about
    finishing your porridge
    with nanny in Cambridge?
    Besides after breakfast, as Girl Scouts we could go out to forage!
    TheresaDouldCummings & Amelia DeMagistris

    Reply
  57. Edward Little

    (I must mangle a magnificent malted
    just to wrangle a reluctant rhyme
    from the playbook of petulant poets
    Who have more good taste than time):

    Pity the non drinking poet
    Whose diction’ry never will show it
    But for rhymin’ with Orange, don’t you see
    The master’s choice malt is Glen mor’ang ie
    And legions of Scotch drinkers know it

    Reply
  58. Morrison Handley-Schachler

    There once was a lady named Corinne,
    Whose hair was a beautiful oran-
    ge. It was much in demand
    At farthing a strand
    Or ninety-six strands for a florin.

    Reply
  59. Bennett Chatigny

    How difficult for poems ‘orange’ is
    So hard to implement into a rhyme
    But if it’s done correctly; how sublime!
    So maybe if I sit here pourin’ gin
    and feast upon delightful porridges
    and tap the table just to pass the time
    The page will suddenly reveal a line
    with words I got from hunts and forages
    To give a rhyme a little twist or bend
    is something that I just might have to do
    As long as there’s no cracks or breaks or rips
    then ev’rything is fine (or we’ll pretend)
    Since frankly, after all, I’ve had a few
    The lines are just as drunk. We’ll let it slip.

    Reply
  60. Tom Sheppard

    Red-faced in the red caught red-handed
    The blue collar union disbanded
    Their black-hearted lawyers demanded
    The white collar team be left stranded
    Judge Yellow Belly crossed a border
    Green with envy allowed no quarter
    White washed verdict on lawyers’ order
    And nothing rhymes with orange

    Reply
  61. Arthur Goikhman

    bow range is the best answer, I think

    Tell Me About It

    Was it an apple or an orange
    that William Tell shot off his head?
    Perhaps a tangerine instead,
    or better yet, a ripe old melon,
    exploding as the chap was yellin’.
    Perhaps. It’s easier to grapple
    with rhyming about that red apple.
    Certainly easier than orange.
    Even if standing within bow range

    Reply
  62. Monika Cooper

    A piano’s stripey spine and there’s an orange:
    Three oranges. Their color haloes them.
    Two kinds of beauty issue forth their challenge:
    A piano’s stripey spine and there’s an orange.
    Music and fruit beg genius to arrange
    Their sounds, their spheres, according to her whim.
    A piano’s stripey spine and there’s an orange:
    Three oranges. Their color haloes them.

    Reply

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