Tuesday, 18 March 2008

Daily Challenge: Smell

Sorry for the long delay! Work is a nasty time-eater :( Today's challenge is 'smell'. Enjoy!

lost

her grandmother had a
powdery florally scent that
though dulled
was still there behind the
musty fleshy earthy
damp of death

4 comments:

Jim Murdoch said...

The Bookshop on Otago Street


The bookshop on
       Otago Street reeks of
       must and dust and it's cold.
It hits the back of your throat as
       you push through its swing doors.

Sometimes the
       owner nods to me but his
       cat never stirs. I asked
       him once if she was stuffed but the
       guy never answered me.

He's not what
       you'd call a people person and
       I doubt if it would
       bother him very much if no
       one ever bought a thing.

The books are
       stacked on the floor and piled on
       the top of bookcases.
It's the loneliest place I know
       but I keep going back.
 

Tamara said...

Scent of memory

Strange how the smell of ripe mango
Transports me to childhood moments in tropical Natal,*
Sucking sticky sweet fingers in a sun-rippled pool.

I can almost feel the stringy fibres, stuck between my teeth;
The tickle of the stray yellow liquid
As it dances down my cheek.

Tamara said...

Forgot to explain the asterisk.

*Natal, now known as KwaZulu-Natal, is a province on the east coast of South Africa with sub-tropical weather and an abundance of mangoes.

Miss Ticket Stubs said...

Very nice!! Extremely evocative, especially as mangoes are a fruit I miss in London (British mango is nowhere near as good as Australian mango!).

Jim - I love the structure you've used!

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