Potpourri

Back in the day

I never knew what potpourri was

Then in my fourth standard book of GK

I found out

All my life, I have wondered

How underrated smells are

Olfactory is a powerful sense

But we let it wither so easily

So now

At the age of whatever I am

I am making potpourri

Unless I think otherwise tomorrow

In a glass bottle

That came with the dessert we ordered

On an evening long ago

Mango mousse, or something

Am gonna put orange peels

As many as I can

And sprinkle it with dried bougainvillea

Pink & white & orange

Then am gonna add beads

From a bracelet I got made

Long ago in a fete I wandered into alone

With letters of my name

Am gonna also put

Old earrings with their tarnished stones

And some more dried petals of rose

Sprayed with my expired perfumes 

Am gonna tear up old Polaroids & put them in

Just to add to the nostalgia

And a bit of the umbilical cord 

Sprouting from my newborn's navel

Also add drops of my mother's shampoo

So that it smells like her too

And scrunched old love letters as well

Because old lovers deserve some caging too