Your palms are sweaty. There's a lump in your throat, and you've been obsessively checking his-her social media sites for the last 18 hours. Yup, you've got it bad. You're in love. If any of this sounds familiar, you have something in common with the main character in Gary Soto's 1983 poem "Oranges." What's that you say? We should use term speaker instead of character when discussing a poem? Nice catch, Shmoopers. You're absolutely right. The thing is, "Oranges" is soooo narrative, it tells such a compelling story, that Shmoop almost forgot we were talking about poetry instead of fiction. Actually, many of Soto's poems have this narrative quality, making them (as poetry goes) pretty fun to read.

In "Oranges," an adult speaker recounts the details of his first date when he was twelve. Things start off pretty well, take a turn for the worse in the middle, but turn out all right in the end. His idea of a good date might differ from yours, but the poem explores themes like young love and coming of age in ways that hit home for just about anyone. "Oranges" was included in Soto's 1985 collection, Black Hair, and has become one of his most popular, most anthologized poems.

A California native, Soto's old hometown of Fresno and his own Mexican-American culture play an important role in much of his work. In addition to his many books of poetry, Soto writes novels and children's literature. Oh yeah, he also has his very own museum dedicated to all things Gary: the Gary Soto Literary Museum. It's located in (you guessed it) Fresno.

So what kind of writing could possibly be worth its own museum? Dive in and find out.

We could tell you that you should read this poem because it's about one of the most universal subjects of all-time: love. Well, it is and… you should. But there's another equally as significant theme in this poem that you might not have noticed. We'll sum it up for you with these important words:

I'm not a girl
Not yet a woman. 

Who uttered this poignant passage you ask? Dickinson? Plath? You're getting warmer (not really). It's Brit Brit in all her 2001 glory.

How does this song relate to Gary Soto's poem? We're glad you asked. Both deal with coming of age, a theme that nearly everyone can relate to. It's that idea of being stuck between two worlds, the world of adulthood and childhood. In fact, folks have been pondering this tricky developmental period so much in recent years that they decided they needed to add a new name—thus the term "tween" was born. Apparently "teenager" and "adult" left too much unlabeled territory for some folks.

Sure, the speaker in "Oranges" is a guy, but he's definitely trying to navigate that tricky tween- territory. He's going through the grownup motions of dating, but he's doing it in the candy aisle. The divide between the adult world and kid-dom doesn't get much clearer than that.

Now, we have good news and bad news. If you're reading this, you've probably already gotten through tween-hood—congratulations. Here's the downer, though: even after you pass into adulthood, there are plenty of opportunities to feel stuck in between, like you don't belong to one group or the other. It can happen at work, with family, in social circles—you name it. Our advice? Sit back, peel yourself a nice juicy orange, read this poem, and… forget about it—because at some level, the tween-ness never ends.