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Peeling Oranges: A Collection of Poetry
Peeling Oranges is a collection of contemporary poetry that peels back the complicated layers of finding one's identity outside of external sources like religion, relationships, and work. It depicts the challenges of modern-day life and their imperfect antidotes including addiction, heartbreak, and mental health. Peeling Oranges is a candid collection of raw, true stories. No matter where you are at in your life, Peeling Oranges will leave you awakened, open, and excited about the power of a story.
- GenresPoetry
110 pages, Paperback
First published May 7, 2022
157 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 24, 2023
Few people will “pickle your heart in vinegar and dill just to keep it safe,” but Maria Giesbrecht will.
My college writing mentor often noted that the best poems “make the familiar strange,” and this is what Giesbrecht does time and time again in her debut poetry collection, Peeling Oranges. Giesbrecht has a knack for storytelling—for transforming the mundane into the sacred, for taking relatable, slice-of-life moments and elevating them to teach something profound. Her strong poetic voice is filled with humor, and her stories are rich with the places she came from and the places she’s traveled to and the men she’s loved and lost. She often speaks in the second person, which draws the reader to play an active role in the poem. When she cries “hello september, you magic bitch!” you are september, and you are magic.
While her voice is punchy and memorable, the imagery in many of her poems is equally so. She brings her stories to life by engaging all of the readers’ senses, particularly that of sight. Images pop out at you in full, vivid color: a turquoise truck, an olive green guitar pick, a swallow with dripping red feathers. These striking visuals are grounded in the world but also lend great moments of symbolism to some of her best poems. In “I imagined you darker,” she writes, “I imagined you darker…a solid oak entryway, not a screen door…fuller and wiser. a vinyl…not a…podcast.”
Giesbrecht’s strongest poems have images that carry you through the poem and take on entirely new meanings by the end. Her poem “Shaken, not blended…” is a great example of this. There are, however, a few poems scattered throughout the collection that felt incomplete to me; I think they could have been expanded upon or that the closing part of the poem could have been polished up so that the meaning of the poem sparkled more clearly. But I will say the poems where this happens are more noticeable only because I know she can do that so well.
Overall, I enjoyed this beautiful collection; it is a true baring of the artist’s soul with a lot of heart and wit. The power of Giesbrecht’s writing is in her ability to connect with the reader by sharing her story and, in doing so, inviting the reader to remember and to share their own. She’s reminded me of the hearts I’ve also pickled and preserved on the shelves of my memory; along with her, I might just “dust off a jar / one with lots of grief and garlic / and have / a good old monch again.”
Lines that stuck with me:
“lord Sunshine
toasts me to a crisp as i spread on
spf as jam and offer myself
on the altar of salt and sandwiches”
“if i was God’s therapist, i would listen deeply
to someone who wants to save the world
before they save themselves”
“squeeze mango juice out of / these limericks and quench the thirst you have / for tropical sadness / …tan the tension out of your / furrowed brow…take you back to / medieval sunshine”
“tell her you saw the moon in me and you needed
a sun / tell her the earth was too large and too
wide for us to hide”
“may i come out smooth
separate and still
may i come out on my own
shaken, not blended”
My college writing mentor often noted that the best poems “make the familiar strange,” and this is what Giesbrecht does time and time again in her debut poetry collection, Peeling Oranges. Giesbrecht has a knack for storytelling—for transforming the mundane into the sacred, for taking relatable, slice-of-life moments and elevating them to teach something profound. Her strong poetic voice is filled with humor, and her stories are rich with the places she came from and the places she’s traveled to and the men she’s loved and lost. She often speaks in the second person, which draws the reader to play an active role in the poem. When she cries “hello september, you magic bitch!” you are september, and you are magic.
While her voice is punchy and memorable, the imagery in many of her poems is equally so. She brings her stories to life by engaging all of the readers’ senses, particularly that of sight. Images pop out at you in full, vivid color: a turquoise truck, an olive green guitar pick, a swallow with dripping red feathers. These striking visuals are grounded in the world but also lend great moments of symbolism to some of her best poems. In “I imagined you darker,” she writes, “I imagined you darker…a solid oak entryway, not a screen door…fuller and wiser. a vinyl…not a…podcast.”
Giesbrecht’s strongest poems have images that carry you through the poem and take on entirely new meanings by the end. Her poem “Shaken, not blended…” is a great example of this. There are, however, a few poems scattered throughout the collection that felt incomplete to me; I think they could have been expanded upon or that the closing part of the poem could have been polished up so that the meaning of the poem sparkled more clearly. But I will say the poems where this happens are more noticeable only because I know she can do that so well.
Overall, I enjoyed this beautiful collection; it is a true baring of the artist’s soul with a lot of heart and wit. The power of Giesbrecht’s writing is in her ability to connect with the reader by sharing her story and, in doing so, inviting the reader to remember and to share their own. She’s reminded me of the hearts I’ve also pickled and preserved on the shelves of my memory; along with her, I might just “dust off a jar / one with lots of grief and garlic / and have / a good old monch again.”
Lines that stuck with me:
“lord Sunshine
toasts me to a crisp as i spread on
spf as jam and offer myself
on the altar of salt and sandwiches”
“if i was God’s therapist, i would listen deeply
to someone who wants to save the world
before they save themselves”
“squeeze mango juice out of / these limericks and quench the thirst you have / for tropical sadness / …tan the tension out of your / furrowed brow…take you back to / medieval sunshine”
“tell her you saw the moon in me and you needed
a sun / tell her the earth was too large and too
wide for us to hide”
“may i come out smooth
separate and still
may i come out on my own
shaken, not blended”
January 14, 2026
“maybe god is just a struggling artist that fucked up
his last creation and lives vicariously
through his rainstorms and northern lights
and when i think of god like this
he doesn’t seem so bad”
“the ocean has cellulite and we call it ripples”
“if i was God’s therapist, i would listen deeply
to someone who wants to save the world
before they save themselves”
“I took the earth out to dinner
the grass is tasting my toes
and the wind is reaching out and
drinking
my breath from me”
“Kissing girls is like eating plums
the first one isn’t that great and it
makes you wonder whether
you really do like plums
but taste another, and another and suddenly
you’re climbing trees”
his last creation and lives vicariously
through his rainstorms and northern lights
and when i think of god like this
he doesn’t seem so bad”
“the ocean has cellulite and we call it ripples”
“if i was God’s therapist, i would listen deeply
to someone who wants to save the world
before they save themselves”
“I took the earth out to dinner
the grass is tasting my toes
and the wind is reaching out and
drinking
my breath from me”
“Kissing girls is like eating plums
the first one isn’t that great and it
makes you wonder whether
you really do like plums
but taste another, and another and suddenly
you’re climbing trees”
December 9, 2022
I experienced enough emotions to last me a lifetime reading and understanding this collection. Maria's poems gave words to feelings and thoughts we often push away whilst highlighting the niche humour in the collective experience of women in their 20s.
April 8, 2023
A pretty solid collection of poems, a decent few stood out of me as particularly strong throughout. Would have rated it 4 stars, but a lot of the poetry didn't really resonate with me, and some of it felt a little weak compared to the stronger ones. Overall definitely enjoyed this one though.
April 7, 2023
oh my gosh I loved this!!
April 19, 2023
I really enjoyed this book of poetry. Definitely recommend!
August 30, 2023
This book is my favourite reminder to romanticise my life!
March 22, 2024
reminded me why i love poetry
May 13, 2024
“tequila, they say is the only alcohol that is an upper not a downer / i would love to meet the chemist that smushed agave and waited three months for their lover to return to the mexican desert.”
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews