senses of you

Words by Angie Johnson (she/her) 


I savour your name on my tongue still

My mouth salivates as I reminisce on the flavour of how it used to feel

The way it would wrap flawlessly around the individual letters

Like golden honey dripping down my throat

The taste is not as sweet as it once was

There's the presence of a tartness

Memories turned slightly sour


Your smell haunts me as the thought of an old friend would

Sneaking up my nose releasing a deja vu ache

Let me roll around in your sheets like a child in long grass

I want to walk home with a smile smacked to my face

Past the old church and the trees in cages

With you lingering off my neck once more


I've touched another body since yours

My fingers stuttered

Sparks of betrayal whistling in the tips

The landscape was different from the glorious terrain of your skin

I would have travelled over you till my legs gave out and buckled beneath me

My final resting place in your embrace


I look for your perfect face in every crowd and down every street

My eyes are becoming tired

Reruns of grey buildings and bland expressions

The world has lost its charm since you left me

Bruised on my bedroom floor

Can’t our eyes meet again through a coffee shop window?

And dance like birds of paradise


The way you said my name still echoes through my head

Leaving trails of clementine sweet kisses down my eardrums

The little gravel notes tickle my heartstrings

Like hearing a song for the first time

And knowing you’re never going to grow tired of it

The inflections of your voice in the strawberry blush of the evening sky


Angie Johnson