Jennifer’s poem beautifully captures cherished memories and sensory experiences, weaving together poignant moments through evocative scents, exclusively for Different Truths.
I adore
Subtle scents
Rain before the first
Drop hits the ground
Brownies baked and
Already delivered
That lingered in the air
Bacon cooked for breakfast
And now still hanging in the air
When the afternoon sun is bright
The scent of pine
After the tree is at the
Recycling drop-off site
In a now-closed K-Mart parking lot
Across town
The gentle scent of
Strawberries,
Sliced on my spinach salad–
The scent of hope for a new year’s resolution
Not yet abandoned tomorrow
The smell of snow
On a warm winter day
When it melts into the ground
The smell of sunshine
So bright it
Makes me squint–
I guard my eyes to its brilliance
And stifle a pent-up sneeze
The scent of the outdoors on my clothes
As I return home
“You smell fresh”, you used to always say–
My favourite greeting
The wisp of your perfume
On the jacket you wore your last day on Earth–
Nearly 20 years ago now
Your scent still lingers,
Reminding me of you
A wisp of Old Spice on
A shopper at the mall
As I pass
Reminding me of
My son’s father
And my grandfather
Simultaneously
Odd mix of memories
Both bittersweet
Like Old Spice itself
The scent of coffee brewing
As I walk down the stairs
In the morning
Like waking at Grandma’s
A rare treat
Since I live alone
Maybe I should learn how
To work the timer on this pot
And how to reset the clocks
In my house, after
Spring forward and fall back
The gentle scent of Constant Comment
Tinged with melted honey
And I am at the counter
In my Michigan childhood kitchen
Blowing on my tea
With we share
About our days
Me, the dramas of middle school
And a cold, snowy walk home
You, the anecdotes
Of substitute teaching
Your stories always win
But it's the echo of the
Time together
That draws me back
It’s why
Constant Comment
Has always been
My favourite tea
Picture design by Anumita Roy
Jennifer Gurney, based in Colorado, teaches, paints, writes, and hikes. Her poems have appeared internationally in 11 books and won two contests. They have also been set to music, displayed on screens in Australia, printed in Washington, D.C., shared through the Rx Poetry project, and featured on a bus in Wisconsin. A lifelong writer, she says that at 62, joy and sorrow finally give her enough depth to write a decent poem now and then.
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