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Hi everyone!   Welcome to our last poetics, before we go to our two week summer break.     

Did you know that flowers communicate through aroma and can smell their neighborhood?


It is said that our childhood memories are evoked when we are confronted with the smells strongly associated with our growing up years like the smell of food.  Scents can move us through time and that is the power of aroma.  Odors recreate our primal experiences, and with it our emotions tied with the experience.  Emotions, they say, is our first scent.   


Here are two poems about scents:

Digging 

Edward Thomas

To-day I think
Only with scents, – scents dead leaves yield,
And bracken, and wild carrot’s seed,
And the square mustard field;

Odours that rise
When the spade wounds the root of tree,
Rose, currant, raspberry, or goutweed,
Rhubarb or celery;

The smoke’s smell, too,
Flowing from where a bonfire burns
The dead, the waste, the dangerous,
And all to sweetness turns.

It is enough
To smell, to crumble the dark earth,
While the robin sings over again
Sad songs of Autumn mirth.

Smoke in Our Hair

BY OFELIA ZEPEDA

The scent of burning wood holds
the strongest memory.
Mesquite, cedar, piñon, juniper,
all are distinct.
Mesquite is dry desert air and mild winter.
Cedar and piñon are colder places.
Winter air in our hair is pulled away,
and scent of smoke settles in its place.
We walk around the rest of the day
with the aroma resting on our shoulders.
The sweet smell holds the strongest memory.
We stand around the fire.
The sound of the crackle of wood and spark
is ephemeral.
Smoke, like memories, permeates our hair,
our clothing, our layers of skin.
The smoke travels deep
to the seat of memory.
We walk away from the fire;
no matter how far we walk,
we carry this scent with us.
New York City, France, Germany—
we catch the scent of burning wood;
we are brought home.

 

Our poetry challenge is to dive into the world of scents.   Drizzle your verses with spices, if you are a lover of food.   Make us happy or sad, even lusty and sensual, to evoke memories. Fill our plate with your scented words, and fill our nostrils with emotions. Second helpings are welcome but be sure to visit and comment on other poems.


If you are new, here’s how to join:  

  • Write a poem about scents.
  • Enter a link directly to your poem and your name by clicking Mr Linky below
  • There you will find links to other poets, and more will join during the next 48 hours
  • Read and comment on other poet’s work, as we all go here to have our poems read
  • Please link back to dVerse from your site.
  • Have fun.

See you at the poetry trail.