ode to scent

Location

odd how i think of
You in the spice aisle
of the grocer near my home
which sits empty,
waiting for
Your body
to fill it with the smell of rosemary and
smoke.   

if only i had time
to understand
why it is my heart beats faster
every time i smell
cigarettes.
they’re poison
and before i met
You
they gave me headaches,
now they give me chest pains.
still my eyes water
regardless.  

i can’t look at salt
without thinking of the salt on
Your skin -
minuscule and left behind by sweat,
i should be disgusted
not enamored
by the way it lingers on
You.
oh! how i hope
some will linger on me
after we have parted ways
and i am left with nothing but a
memory.  

did
You know
scent is the strongest sense
when it comes to
remembering?
i’ve become quite familiar with this,
feeling displaced
on a walk
because the air fills with the smell of
rain
and i am suddenly curled around
You,
our bodies akin to the question marks
that fill my head
as i wonder
‘do
You love me?’
we were both children then,
and we’re children now
with different cells,
but our smells remain
the same.

what i love the most about
burrowing my nose into
Your neck
is the scent of the
short hairs that grow there -
a small forest growing out of
Your skin
bringing me the memory of
earth and life,
so that when i go on hikes
i think of the kisses i left on the trees
that sprout from
Your head
like little flowers
ready to fall away as the day passes.

night muffles day
and i muffle myself
with the jacket
You left
behind
and my heart
laughs at my nose
for being so
sentimental.  
 

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