A Natural History of the Senses

A Natural History of the Senses

— a Diane-Ackerman-inspired cento

in the western idiom

a chord is an idea

budding from olfactory stalks

embodiment of

ten octaves

olfactory regions are yellow

receptors at the base of hairs

the mouth

a plague of mellow apples

yellow fever of butcher shops

constant in our lives

the sneeze is

a greater handicap

than blindness

for whom it fails to ring

when we sing

the landscape kisses

its signature

sensory maps

we are its consciousness

deafness

is the sound that once rang in the sky

at 85% the speed of sound

delicate as a twig traveling

vigilant across a field

pupils dilate

ancestors

ground-up bones

touch as

endorphin levels rise

the sky is the one visual

perfume of healing

tactile vocoder

of a substance

in human embryos

original rosaries were made

from pigeon dung

typhus is said to smell of mice

even crown jewels

are replaced every thirty days

during early afternoons in October

we become nomads

talcy-leaved

bending together

to water vibrations

hand gardening

we sing

the season’s periods of dark & light

our sleep schedule parallels

an earthworm nearby

guided by smell

the duck’s bill

expels air

across

cerebral hemispheres

ethereal, resinous, musky,

minty, floral, acrid, foul

testosterone is at its highest

in Islamic cooking

menses breath is oniony

neurons in the nose

mix rose water & musk into mortar

a clanship of porridge

internal organs don’t

devour their enemies at table

a delicate staple

of only eight molecules

has many pain receptors

sight appears dull

on the battlefield

to move its flying muscles

eat a live goose

measles of freshly plucked feathers

dried-up rose petal hair

be honest in sacred's name