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.

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