The Perfumed Trees
Please click play to hear my Spoken Word of this poem to the music “Somewhere in the Wild” by Saleka, from”The Servant”
Just last night the wind changed direction
and brought the scent
of a scene we played,
on a breezy night,
heavily perfumed with flowers
and it felt so much
like that summer 40 years ago,
when you were in my life,
and I had just begun to be in yours.
We didn’t want to spend the money
so we danced outside the club,
in a dimly lit corner, just under the trees.
When the guitar began to wail,
was when you first kissed me.
Was it because it was the first,
or the perfumed trees,
or that moon- less night
with a heady, sensual breeze?
Sitting tonight in a rocking chair,
I can still rock to the beat of that bass
and feel that kiss that found its home for eternity,
tucked inside my memory, like flowers in a vase
It happens that once in a while, on nights like this
with just the right smell on the breeze
I rock and wonder and remember
our first kiss, below the perfumed trees.
Karima Hoisan
January 29, 2024
Costa Rica
Digital Rabbit Hole 