Olfactory

Senses come alive with the morning smells.
Feelings sparked- they come with all the tells
Reveling in old times, but with no alarm bells

Morning Coffee-it is brewing
Bacon, in its greases, it is stewing
Dew covered grass, it is also for viewing

Morning Memories poked awake
Its a slow rise, a hold they seem to take
Like savoring the smell of your own baking Birthday Cake

Olfactory sense, it’s like a Time Machine I had
I’m seven years old, waiting for lunch with grandad
Banana and peanut butters not that bad

Smells also seem to linger
Perfume Echoing like an unanswerable ringer
And then It pricks just like an invisible stinger

I swear Momma is on the stairs
I still smell the perfume she wears
And this is what the heart bares

Time jumps and PTSD like flashes
But I don’t remember the smell of her ashes
Olfactory senses cut and make slashes

My timeline’s broken and now I’m lost at sea
All I can smell is an ocean of tears, so salty
Then, I wonder if all these tears are from me?

I’m swimming in the sheets, adrift in dreams
Smelling you years later, so real it seems
Asleep, the memory, your betrayal -it almost redeems

Lying on the beach, the past seems to reach
The smell of Weed and sunscreen, take me, they almost breach
Then-My defenses fall, and I relive all the moments that universe brought to teach

Lessons of love and also loss
Crumbling like bark and soft like moss
A forest full of touching, smells and trees that we climbed and littered with the rocks we’d toss

I’ve gone down the deepest rabbit hole
Senses overwhelm and I’m no longer whole
Just one whiff, and I’m in a thousand pieces- I’m this scattered old soul

Poem written by Michael Shawn Headley

Writing Prompt: Write anything either about, with, or inspired by the term olfactory.   This prompt was provided by Facebook Group Poets, Writers and Creatives January 2023

2023 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

THIS POEM MAY NOT BE COPIED, PUBLISHED OR MANUFACTURED WITHOUT THE WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR.