“Perfume” by Kevin Eberhardt

Certain scents kindle memory
Some haven't any name &
Some haven't any evidence
I recollect from childhood the
Pungent odor of coal burning
In my Grandmother's furnace
How I'd sit by the heating grate
Coloring in my coloring book
Trying to stay within the lines
Or putting together a 20 piece
Puzzle always missing the
20th piece & how I noticed
Even then the coal smelled of
Ghosts living in my Grand
Mother's attic ancient as the
Earth from which the black
Diamonds were extracted &
Flammable as the sudden
Realization of getting old