Shel Graves' Sensorium

Taste: salmon, dried green tea Touch: cool, smooth, curved Sight: a winged blue sky, two spiraled columns of parallel, vertical clouds; a cat sitting facing the sun, his face (black on the top half, white chin and throat), his eyes (hidden in the crease between), a faint glint of pale green in between naps; the moon obscured by the pale blue, dusky clouds, half glowing yellow, half shadowed; a thick, green glass bottle Smell: oranges Sound: raspy hee-hee giggles Extra: bejeweled octopus tentacles; a reclining Buddha; sharp castled shapes in shadows

Taste: wine with whipped cream; http://blog.fatfreevegan.com ; Cafe Flora's Cookbook, www.cafeflora.com Touch: alkaline soil, hipbone Sight: The Cruxshadows, "Birthday," Beijing concert , jumping, spinning Smell: perfume, White Shoulders, in a dream Sound: soft "T"s in the words: delightful, better, artful, and electroponce, The Mighty Boosh Extra: the secret of flight, the weight of a barn owl, 1-1.5 pounds; " live long enough to live forever "

Taste: jammy Cabernet, Columbia Crest Touch: a loose strap, a skinned knee, a caught breath Sight: she twists her hair around her fingers; the cat duo crouch like sentries on either side of the porch watching the dog approach Sound: Grace, Gigi, Victorine; a harmonica Smell: campfire smoke Extra: hamadryad (a nymph who lives in a tree and dies when the tree dies), jollification, taradiddles, Madame Svengali at the Cirque des Bashibazoucks, Rue St. Honore (George Du Maurier's Trilby (1983) ); Mary Jo Putney, Jodi Thomas, Cherry Adair, Candice Camp, Jennifer Blake, Eloise James: date night in the romance section of the public library looking at the shelves reading Kindles; a dented Black Mercedes, a psychic cashier, a shimmering, shaking tree carried in one hand, a hand held, fluttering over the heart

Taste: honey granola Touch: chewing as work, as an enterprise Sight: a jeweler's lens, a loupe Sound: Quia Multum Amavit by Algernon Charles Swinburne, because she loved much, a phrase that defines a character; a live recorded performance of Rasputina 's " Transylvanian Concubine " Smell: burnt toast, a gas oven Extra: Svengali, a defining villain,"Oh, happy days and happy nights, sacred to art and friendship!", Trilby by George Du Maurier (1893)

Taste: avocado and licorice Touch: a fuzzy white flower Sight: alpine lupine Sound: "Why do they always send the poor?" and "...dancing in the desert everybody have a real good time..." System Of A Down - Bring Your Own Bomb v. DJ Swamp - Illegal Art Smell: fermented sun, dandelion wine, a tall weed with balled, yellow flowers Extra: hoisting a truck and flying over a city; hugged by Paris Hilton; ornithanthropus — a winged man; a stone man, a burning man, a pictogram; a fierce warrior of love

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