By Amy Mariaskin
PROMPT—During Covid-19 ...
Bloodhounds can smell history.
Overlaying past on present:
300 million scent receptors
and a face to gather them.
My nose is far simpler,
But she’s eager to please.
Almond scented lotion is
1995, and glue sticks are
fifth grade art, and
honeysuckle is
perennial hope.
It barely felt like a virus.
Just a runny nose,
some coughing and then:
Olfactory static
I realize
(Only in its absence)
That caraway seed
Is the scent of my desk,
that chlorine on my
arms calms me,
that tasting the morning
wakes you up quicker.
I sniff my dog’s paws,
desperate for a whiff
of familiarity:
Pseudomonas and Proteus.
He gives me a serious look.
It comes back slowly.
I savor the stench
as much as the sweetness.
The affective roadmaps
a faint source of light.
Trails of what was
and now is
in a different way.
Amy Mariaskin, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and founding director of the Nashville OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center. She is author of the book, Thriving in Relationships When You Have OCD, published in 2022 by New Harbinger Publications. She is new to poetry. Amy writes from Nashville, TN.
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