Cashmere Perfume

Undertones of cigarette smoke

delicate butts

rimmed with pink lipstick

Diet Pepsi … the gold can

with a straw

–

The consistent smell of Christmas.

I could so easily be a chain smoker too …

her constant inhale/exhale

Too hot in the winter

Too cold in the summer.

–

Bridgette the dog’s slobbery tumble

across the lawn.

Gramps shows me the sprinkler box

-sometimes you can catch a frog

plopped in for a drink- he says

–

They quit smoking when gramps got cancer.

–

But every now and again

I still smell grams’ perfume

and undertones of cigarette smoke.