Caren Krutsinger Poet I do not know?

What Does Meth Smell Like

What does meth smell like?
Imagine a cat urinating on your clothes
Six thousand, three hundred and sixty-two times.
Take this smell, amplify it be ten.

How do you know?
Because I used to teach school 
In a county that had the reputation of
Being the “meth capital of the Midwest”.
When a child who lived in this awful smell
Brought in her backpack, we called in the police.

They would go to the house and arrest the
Parents who could no longer smell it.
The kids were usually taken away for a day
Or two, but then everything went back to their
Normal, so we started buying the children new
Backpacks and washing their clothes in our houses.

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Anne-Lise Andresen March 20, 2019 at 6:24 AM - It smells like ammonia ... horrific !!! - But, why in the children's backpacks ? - (Smuggling through the children?) - hugs // Anne-Lise :) Caren Krutsinger March 20, 2019 at 9:29 AM It is like living in the home of a smoker, Anne-Lise. Not unlike nicotine, meth saturates every hair fiber and pore of everything in its wake.

M. L. Kiser March 20, 2019 at 12:02 AM That's so sad; you see some of the greatest horrors in our society. There's no excuse for this happening to a child though. I do not envy you, your job. Caren Krutsinger March 20, 2019 at 2:28 AM I know, but I still love it. It is such a great adventure daily, and most stories go up the hill rather than down like this one.

Charles Messina March 19, 2019 at 7:15 PM So scary is the world we live in. I have seen most every drug in my wild life. I have never seen or smelt meth before. If I were to imagine what it smelt like it would have been exactly how you described that harmful disgusting drug. Thank you, Caren. Caren Krutsinger March 19, 2019 at 10:00 PM Charles, I wish I had not ever smelled it, but once you get a whiff, you never forget.

Andrea Dietrich March 19, 2019 at 7:07 PM So interesting, Caren. I think you exaggerate the smell because something 60,000 times greater than cat urine smell would surely kill us to smell it!! But how weird that you were involved with kids that came from such homes. So sad. Caren Krutsinger March 19, 2019 at 10:00 PM One of the children who was the saddest was so sad because he kept warning his family they were being "watched the the police". They did a drug raid and discovered the parents had a meth LAB in the child's bedroom where he slept! He was back with them in two days.

Ilene Bauer March 19, 2019 at 6:11 PM i had no idea that meth had that kind of smell, caren! when i read your poems, i can vividly picture exactly what you're describing, which is a wonderful talent to have... Caren Krutsinger March 19, 2019 at 10:01 PM Thank you Ilene. When I run out of stuff to write I think "what do I have to say that might be unique?" I thought "hey, what about the smell of meth?" After all, I had never smelled it myself until 1997 when I DID!