My prompt for Laura Shovan’s 11th Annual February Poem Project was to “search your memory archives for a smell, and then tell the story that smell evokes.”
No, I didn’t write about the smell of coffee (but just looking at those beans can you just about smell and taste it?). Alas, I couldn’t find a picture in my files of The Little Building — a green metal garden shed with a white rollup door. But I could definitely remember its smell.
Molly has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at Nix the Comfort Zone.
Image is via Unsplash
A(nother) Year of Reading 
Thanks, Mary Lee. I love how you listed all the items – such a great visual before adding the smell. Freshly mown grass and garden loam are such distinctive smells – I was right there. And after seeing your photo,now I need a cup of coffee!
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Somehow I missed your prompt day. Sorry. I’m glad you posted it here. Scent is such a strong memory, but so difficult to describe. I can totally smell your little building. “fresh mown grass and the scent of gas” reminds me of so many sheds.
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Oh that noisy yawn, which I can totally hear – love it! xo
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“dusty metal home of“ starts up my olfactory sense and places me in your shed as your grass and garden care tools grow and add to the senses and connected stirred memories. I also like the 🦗, yawn, and whiffs of garden loam—thanks for transporting me in cold snow-filled February!
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You brought The Little Building to life, Mary Lee. I swear I smell its ‘sweet breath’ right now.
After reading your poem I feel like I need to check my hair and arms for sticky cobwebs – in the best way possible! 🙂
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What wonderful details! The description of the smell in the end brought to mind my grandparents’ basement (where they must have kept their lawnmower).
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Your poem is so specific with words like earthy, fresh-mown grass, I could smell them all! Great specific details!
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I loved it before & still do, Mary Lee, a wonderful last verse! One of my grandpas had a shed & all of us loved sitting in the cool of it on hot days, looking at all he had in there. I don’t remember a smell, but only the mystery of it.
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Some smells are instantly recognisable Mary Lee. The little building- the shed in the garden, is among them I feel. You have captured the scene and its associated smells so comprehensively. My father’s shed still looms up with great clarity when I revisit my childhood. You have no doubt awakened memories for all who read your evocative poem.
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I love all the details and the memories and sensations they evoke. My brain was too tired to do anything serious with your prompt (in for a limerick that day), but it’s one I want to come back to–it will be a rich source of ideas in the future.
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Oh, yes–that fresh-mown grass takes me back to childhood. A wonderful sense in this poem. I also love the yawning little building. It’s such a great visual.
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What vivid details! I can smell the lawn mower oil, fresh cut grass and all. That noisy yawn is great too. 🙂
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We had one of these sheds too! My dad’s friend climbed on top of the roof in a crazy game of hide and seek and then my dad (not a handyman) took the doors off and the smell went away!
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“its chilly breath”–I could smell this shed, Mary Lee!
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That last stanza–so beautifully balanced between repetition and variation, so spot on in its description of the smells. And your fondness for The Little Building with its chilly breath is so clear. ❤
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I had that little building in wood form, with Dad’s saw in it, so I can add sawdust to those smells. So evocative! A great idea to write from scent!
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Mary Lee, were you in my garage? 🙂 The Little Building sounds like a character from a story. I can smell the grass now.
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Yes! The smell of mown grass – leftover and clinging to mower blades in the dark of the shed! Thank you for bringing a memory I share to life.
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Yes, I CAN smell and taste that coffee. 😀 But even more, I can detect the earthy, oily scents you evoked in your poem. Wonderful!
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It’s so easy to overlook scent when writing, and it adds so much richness! Your little shed comes to life with all the specific, sensory details in this poem. Thanks for the reminder to stop and smell the…gas and grass? 😉 Great prompt and great response!
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Mary Lee, you have captured the smells of the little building–from the oil and chemicals to the earthiness of the grass and ground–I can smell it all. That is not easy to do with words, but you have done it.
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