Oranges on her head and oranges in her hand,
flowers on a yellow poncho.
She’s so much smaller than her clothes.

I don’t know why [I bought the print]1.
Is it her one free hand, or the way
she stacks so many things
the wrong shape for balancing?

Or how she shifts her weight to cope
when she makes a sale, and an orange,
or many oranges, are taken away?

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Werner: "she's in my house apart from I put her there"

Confirmed with Ali Lewis, By Twos; A Critical Dissertation and Creative Portfolio, Durham University : Department of English Studies, 2023, p.207



Text Authorship:

• by Ali Lewis (b. 1990), "The Orange Vendor", subtitle: "After Natalia Goncharova" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Héloïse Werner (b. 1991), "The Orange Vendor" [ mezzo-soprano, baritone and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2026-02-18
Line count: 10
Word count: 72