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Kickoff
Rattling and clanking
Starting after the November thermostat click.
I love the smell of the house
When my dad would first turn on the furnace
For the winter.
It is a fungus-growing-on-rotting-tree smell,
Something slightly burning.
Soon to follow: the counters covered
In Chex and pretzel sticks and mixed nuts
On greasy paper towels,
I love the smell of the kitchen
When my mom practices grandma’s old recipes
For the holidays.
It is a hot-water-hitting-cocoa-mix smell,
Something to come inside to from the Spearmint cold.
Then: relatives visit from down the street
And down in Texas, all smelling
The same scents of my home
And happily intruding with their cigarette-and-leather
Or Coors Light-and-cologne smell in my life,
Rattling and clanking.
Copyright ©
Evan Bradfield
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