Shel Graves' Sensorium

Taste: fresh, cold, peach Sight: red delphinium; a 40 year old fig tree; the skinny, bare-chested, grey-bearded, ribs on display, man with one black glove, jerking and jumping spasmodically, in front of traffic, in front of me, he is crazy, dangerous, gesturing, trying to communicate something — or he is flying a kite in the road Touch: silky, clean fur Sound: woodpecker on the telephone pole, a yawing like a careening steamer; "There's not enough wind power, mon." Smell: cut pine needles; laundry detergent wafting from the apartments, houses, on a sunny afternoon Extra: a story about four people waiting at the crosswalk and hit by a car: a biker, a tattooed man with a earphone in, a skinny short-haired blonde girl with black tights, a guy with a neck brace and a gold cross and a sleeveless shirt with a smirk

Taste: green beans, cauliflower, zucchini, carrots Sight: renovated historical houses ; a fat white shepherd dog lolls its tongue and hangs its head and front paws out a window on the second floor Touch: fluttering wind; tiny tufts of matted fur Sound: Blonde teenager on short sparkly blue bicycle, white headphones in, black butterfly tattoo on shoulder, no helmet, red cap, big shades, picks at her fingernails as she says: "I not going to say it like that. I'm going to be all hella suave. Ya' know?" Thuggish bearded teen, bare arms, baggy shorts: "I do know."; a flock of sparrows Smell: phlox; warm blackberry bushes Extra: keeping the lint plucked from his belly button every day stored in a jar, piling up into billowing cushions after all these years; Advice: "Just don't think about it."; the unrelenting stickiness of grocery store songs; "You gained good karma in a past life."; "To watch the corn grow, and the blossoms set...

Taste: rosemary, sage, olive oil: roasted potatoes; peach, banana, almond, honey: smoothie Sight: a green corridor, striped blue sky Touch: suck a knuckle; powder petals Sound: whir, wind, gears rolling: cycling; As a folk lyric: "Silence. Space. Self-possession. A society that can no longer take shopping seriously." "What Women Want," ed. Bernadette Vallely Smell: warm dandelion; birds, reptiles, and aquarium fish on a hot, humid day Extra: a blue and green tattoo of the earth map on my back; a leopard claws my side, a pick-up truck escape, unhelpful Brittney Spears, a rolling start down a rocky hill