Shel Graves' Sensorium

Taste: dark chocolate mousse  Sound: glasses clinking, cheers  Smell: strawberry wine  Sight: a lake on a summer’s day and people enjoying it and the sun lying on docks and blankets on the grass and standing on paddle boards  Touch: smooth, thick, creamy  Extra: aging; ritual  A jolt of joy sunlight  Grateful for: health

Taste: sweet chili  Sound: low growl, barking, high-pitched barking  Smell: urine and feces  Sight: a black-tailed deer  Touch: matted fur, ribs, hip-bones  Extra: a grey hyena, a black shipping container, a beautiful collie, bureaucracy, “My dogs! My dogs!”  A jolt of joy a wagging tail  Grateful for: sunny days, no-cheese popcorn

Taste: carrots crisp and sweet  Sound: morning birdsong  Smell: patchouli smoke  Sight: ducks in a pond, hopping in all in a row, one at a time, swimming, a beautiful pond, water over rocks in sunlight  Touch: silky fur, sleeping body; paws in stomach  Extra: memories of skates  A jolt of joy a well-crafted sentence; a correctly spelled word  Grateful for: Susan Palwick’s books and stories

Taste: Miyoko’s Black Ash, umami  Sound: catchy pop music  Smell: nooch, ferment  Sight: little yellow flowers; steam rising through sunlight, wispy particles; emaciated hips  Touch: soft fur, just bathed; dead bird head pulled from the jaws of a small dog—slimy, crunchy  Extra: standing her ground  A jolt of joy: coming home  Grateful for: walks with Sam

Taste:  mango, lime, tanjin Sound:  Jean Donaldson's voice; a disturbed rumbly, bubbly stomach Smell:  violet and sea mist; possum feces Sight:  Sam in regency attire; a bonnet; a bright yellow wall Touch:  silky fur; thick fur Extra:  a fallow period A jolt of joy : sparkly items: sequins and glitter Grateful for: spring

Taste:  deep blackberry dungeon Sound: shrieking—like a hawk came down upon her; utter frustration, panting, crying; steady breathing, soft, hard, content, sighing breaths Smell: lilac  Sight: lilacs through the window early morning; orange sweet potato; cherry blossoms-petals, stamens  Touch:  petals; their weight, less than 30 pounds Extra: a dream of bathing in a deep bathtub of wild picked herbs and flowers—marigold color, chrysanthemum, a purple with an old woman to absorb her wisdom in a dark cave (but not wild picked?)  A jolt of joy: ear wagging, dancing  Grateful for: Sunday mornings

Taste: sourdough; toast with strawberry jam Sound: boiling kettle; whorls Smell: cinnamon toast  Sight: body folded, nicks, cuts, shearing a sheep; wet, curly fur; apple blossoms; cherry blossoms; delicate pink petals  Touch: matted fur; oily wool  Extra: humanity; Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguru; running with Shetlands A jolt of joy: cinnamon rolls  Grateful for: feet