a while ago, i announced that i would like to post little snippets from the novel i’m working on once in a while. it’s time i did that – here you go:

she was quick with the wind; she was big; she was slender; she was fragile; she was slow and strong like mud gliding over the mountainside after the heavy rains; she was black and white at the same time; so womanly no woman could ever be more of a she; and she was the patron of men who love men.

“ten words,” she said, “ten words will set you free.”

ten words? why not seven, or nineteen, or two or fifty? ten words?

ten words? what are those ten words? just any ten words? ten words that make a particular sentence? ten words strung together?

lilac, strawberry, dillweed, lavender, citronella, chamomile, cloves, bergamot, patchouli.

that’s 10 words.

why are these all words of smell? and not just any smells. soft, female smells. the smells of a mature woman. ripe.

ten ripe soft female aromatic words will set you free …

(image of the wild bergamot by gwarcita)