Memoire Involuntaire or, Upon Noticing a Woman

Memoire Involuntaire or, Upon Noticing a Woman
Zoe Etkin

Her heavy scent rests in the air before your nostrisl
Take an easy breath, send the particles flying
Pique the olfactory, the limbic--

A bowl of potpourri sits on a doily,
On an end table full of pictures of you--

The candy dish
a tiny bible
A lion and lamb statuette

Your grandmother's living room:
Peppery sweett, scripture-soaked walls.

~~~

The woman stands in her bathroom: marble-white

Soaks herself in French perfume,
Drinks it like holy water

~~~

Grandmothers shrink

Hug them
And your face is buried--

Your grandmother's house is toxic:

Cinnamonbark Dried rose petals
Ammonium

~~~

he woman's husband searches

Tucks his snout into every possible crook of her body--
nuzzling all the places that smell of clean skin

~~~

Try renting your grandmother's apartment--

You can't

She fingers her way through the walls
Soon as you step off the elevator

She exhales--
The wallpaper dampens, peels

Run a hot bath--
She pours oil into the water

And when your eyes are closed--