Poem for a Man with No Sense of Smell July 27, 2007
Posted by Rambling Man in Poetry & Humor.trackback
Poem for a Man with No Sense of Smell
by Kate Clanchy
This is simply to inform you:
that the thickest line in the kink of my hand
smells like the feel of an old school desk,
the deep carved names worn sleek with sweat;
that beneath the spray of my expensive scent
my armpits sound a bass note strong
as the boom of a palm on a kettle drum;
that the wet flush of my fear is sharp
as the taste of an iron pipe, midwinter,
on a child’s hot tongue; and that sometimes,
in a breeze, the delicate hairs on the nape
of my neck, just where you might bend
your head, might hesitate and brush your lips,
hold a scent frail and precise as a fleet
of tiny origami ships, just setting out to sea.
[…] Poem for a Man with No Sense of Smell the wet flush of my fear is sharp as the taste of an iron pipe […]
And oh, those last two lines! Yes.
a great poem !