Shel Graves' Sensorium

Taste: coconut curry, jalapeno pizza, raspberry chocolate Sound: barking, howling, hissing; punk rock  Smell: hairspray; pitch black and a flashlight  Sight:  a solar-powered UFO Touch: wires; soft fur  Intellect, ideas, and dreams: "The Grief of the Pasha," an 1885 painting by Jean-Leon Gerome; dreams of vertical space and ladders and walking in the darkness but finding a light "I give thanks for the wise qualities of the evergreen trees that have stood by me this day: may you show my show my own heart can be evergreen and growing through winters of doubt and darkness." — Caitlin Matthews  Grateful for: directions and driving safely through the rainy night; padding

Taste: cranberry spice Sound: Coffin Break Smell: patchouli Sight: curly fur; pink belly; lights reflecting on farmland (flooding) night view Touch: wires; soft fur  Intellect, ideas, and dreams: "In the green morning / I wanted to be a heart. / A heart." Federico Garcia Lorca, "Ditty of First Desire”; frustration; nostalgia Grateful for: poetry, nature, dog on lap, Sam, new experiences

Taste: freeze-dried strawberries and raspberries strong and tart  Sound: Lux, Rosalia; clanging; harp, cello, choir  Smell: pine  Sight: a buff cat sits beside you; paws; darkness  Touch: clamping  Intellect, ideas, and dreams: large red frogs; mixing kinds of pasta;  "We are creatures built for joy. At the very saddest of funerals, we can hear a funny story about our lost beloved, and, God help us, we laugh. We can stagger out of an appointment where a person in a white coat has given us news we think we cannot bear to hear, and still we smile at the baby in the checkout line...This is who we are the very best of who we are.“ — Margaret Renkl, The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year   "Apocalyptic stories always get the apocalypse wrong. The tragedy is not the failed world's barren ugliness. The tragedy is its clinging beauty even as it fails. Until the very last cricket falls silent, the beauty-besotted will find a reason to love the wo...

In which I continue my tradition of taking what I have posted under "gratitude" throughout the year in these blog posts and turning them into a poem (or two). This year, I was not as faithful to the Sensorium so I had fewer posts, but a powerful list.  Gratitude 2025, The Short List  Poetry  Solarpunk Guidance, the universe, paths Friends (a table full of, a getaway with, and their writings) Togetherness New Year, living in the future Sam (time with) Guidance for Gratitude 2025 This universe brings us together at table,  This table full of friends, a universe together,  This universe together, a table full of friends.  We belong to the solarpunk future,  We, being friends and their future writings,  We guide the future, paths taken together.  May we walk paths of togetherness.  May we sit at the friends’ table together,  May we get away together this new year.  Friends, to our future together!  Guidance for Gratitude 2025...

Taste: Cabernet Franc Sound: Charlotte Cardin (Puppy, Daddy Meaningless, Confetti); Julia Kent, Canadian cellist and composer; Poppy Ackroyd, British composer Smell: orange patchouli Sight: the barred owl in the tree across the street Touch: fleece bat pajamas Intellect, ideas, and dreams: wisdom, beauty, passion  Grateful for: Sherry and her writing

Taste: rice, butter, pepper, salt  Sound: garbage trucks; purring, dog exhales, sighs  Smell: cat litter Sight:  prancing, tail flags Touch: fur Intellect, ideas, and dreams: Gahzeba! Grateful for: Sam