Redolent
Leonard Orr After a particularly perilous journey over the Cascades (black ice, fog, avalanche warnings, grim detours to nowhere for runaway trucks), we found a Persian restaurant close to our hotel. It was exciting just to be alive together where no one knew us, to have survived terrifying turns and scenes of crushed vehicles surrounded by orange and red flares. We gripped each other for hours, breathing in synch as divers low on oxygen. The chef gave us small amounts of many colorful dishes, sensing exactly what we needed. We were too foggy to recall any names or ingredients. Late that night, in our room, you exuded pomegranate and rose petals, mint and saffron. The heat of the bath brought out those tones of cardamom, sumac and pistachios. Woken by the late winter dawn, we still tasted of marzipan and baklava, almonds and mulberries, cucumber and radishes. |
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About the Author: Leonard Orr has published three books of poetry: Why We Have Evening (2010), Timing Is Everything (2012), and A Floating Woman (2015), all from WordTech/Cherry Grove. His work has appeared in Poetry International, Rattle, Black Warrior Review, Cirque, and elsewhere. He teaches literature at Washington State University Vancouver.