a pure distillation
wildflowers
cinnamon
scorpion pepper

a simple taste
sweat beading

the ceiling fan wobbles
currents of air send chills on now damp skin

molecules of scent
trigger
memories of
someplace else
former life
former love
long buried sins
long lost

thoughts circle
a murder of crows
never forgetting
faces burnt
places of death avoided
pain recalled in excruciating detail
passed down
genetically imprinted lessons

as i close my eyes
images dance
skeletal remains of yesterday

my mind is a graveyard
filled with headstones
names faded
dates forgotten
the careful charcoal rubbings show
a long slow descent
into
inconsolable sadness

harkened back
to those endless days of
momentary bliss
simple pleasures
when a day lasted a week
or vanished in a second

the air scented
wildflowers
cinnamon
garlic
hints of scorpion pepper

wakening memory
lone trips to the vault
opening doors
with rusty locks

alcohol scented kisses
crisp autumn air
leaves burning in the distance

the sickly sweet smell
of decay
regret
remembered through tinted lenses
watercolor dalliances
vivid
yet distorted

as seen through the curve of the hourglass

as buried in sand