Shel Graves' Sensorium

Taste: stinging, intoxicating, sweet chocolate-truffle vodka and espresso-tempered, dark-chocolate vodka Touch: raspberry smashed underfoot Sight: yellow dahlia through a white picket fence; a bus passes, a gust sends a windy-spray of dandelion seeds flying; her jowl twitching toward the window, wafting barbecue smoke Sound: peeping birds; robotic ice cream truck; rapid-fire squirrel cheeping; whispered: "Yummy!" Smell: warm earth on dog fur Extra: you sound like the manager in Office Space ; this concert T-shirt lasted longer than our friendship; that girl's oblivious to flirtation

Taste: peeled, grated carrots and chopped cucumber with skins Touch: tiny, sticky, leaves Sight: a plastic tricycle — yellow body, orange seat, blue handlebars, hung up in a basketball hoop; Pipa's Red Fringe Flower: Loropetalum Chinense Pipa's Red also known as Chinese Witch Hazel Sound: birdsong: sparrows, seagulls; scrabbling, skittering, thin claws skritch, skritching up the gutter, over the rooftop, through the walls and into the attic Smell: the smell of death - unknown or sour, sweet rotten fruit, an alcoholic's skin the morning after binging, foamy hospital hand sanitizer; mint toothpaste in the break room Extra: Stacey's green, cotton puckered shirt (embroidered with "Stacey" on the front?); Spicey's last gasp; grandmother's white, floured face; a resting place for weary travelers; a transformation, a change in form, "...the joy that sweeps in with the tempest, shaking and waking all life with laughter..." Gitanjali , Tagore

Taste: cilantro, lime, black beans, tomato, avocado Touch: heat - oven hot marble; hanging out inside sun-warmed skin Sight: bright - red geraniums, orange nasturtiums, a floating lemon rind Sound: erotic ecclesiastical singing, chanting Stile Antico: Old-School A Cappella in Boston Smell: hot oil and ground corn tortilla chips; a neighborhood permeated with cooking gas-soaked charcoal briquettes Extra: It happened outside of herself on an island, mourning, great wailing waves of grief carried her, moaning, out every morning.