Odour
“a lingering quality, impression, or feeling attaching to something” -- OED
Con/Jur/d, 6/5/2023
In the dream
we couldn’t stop sneezing
“Huh, we can smell in dreams”
Maybe, it wouldn’t be the first
time a memory has cloaked itself in
a dream, but why was he wearing
such a cloying deodorant?
Blamed it on zombification
so you said
Hiding the smell of flesh
in case the machines can detect
meat off-gassing
For a moment
there’s some residual guilt
listening to the NY Times
new music playlist
these days
the front pages are hosted
by charnel house apologists
-- it’s camouflage, we tell
ourselves, not good to stand out
better when we all wore masks
the unsleeping eyes
could let go
and we could blink
besides, the culture pages are still
great, aren’t they? And I’m listening
to “The Lion, The Witch and the
Wardrobe” while walking through too
bright cemetery, one of those
without trees
saints, and plastic flowers
dominate the brown grass, while
at the edges deep green leaves
delineate the difference between
lush and stony silences
And Azlan says
"Rise up, Sir Peter Wolf's-Bane
And, whatever happens, never
forget to wipe your sword"
And we wonder
not for the first time
what else due to our
beginningless greed
anger, and ignorance
have we accepted as
a true and necessary
attachment?
Much love,
Con/Jur/d, 6/5/2023