Monday, November 11, 2013

POEM - Peek-a-Boo, I Smell You

The drive home was nice
The dark deepening
Made the conversation wane
While steady road noises thrummed
The expectation was
That we would ride home
Silent and reflective
Winding down our minds
Hoping for some deep winter sleep

That’s what would have happened
If not for the smell
The relentless, musky stench
Of the rascally skunk
Hidden in the murky woods
The guerilla soldier of nature
Armed with a powerful chemical weapon

And I’m not sure why
Maybe it was the wet summer
Or just polecat migratory patterns
But lately the smells
Have increased frequency
With intrusions occurring
On an annoyingly regular basis
And I always seem to breathe deep
In through the nostrils
Just as the full force hits

Tonight when it happens
I am in a reflective mood
I bravely take a contemplative whiff
Then boldly declare
I am starting to like the smell
Especially in comparison
To the chicken farm we just passed
My wife rolls her eyes
Tells me I’m ridiculous

But it makes me nostalgic
As I recall  from youth
The scratch-n-sniff stickers
That were all the rage
And then there were the stinky ones
And the skunk one was bad
But never as bad
As the pizza one

She concedes the point
But not the conversation
As I enjoy the last vestiges
Of our reeking neighborhood friend
And contemplate smelly stickers

And the oddities of olfaction



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