Scented Memories

By Elijiah, Year 9

In Fatima Ashgar’s poem “Smell is the last memory to go” the fragrance of citrus and jasmine knocks the narrator back into the arms of her mother as it evokes her perfume. But for me it is the smell of a simpler time with family, that garlicky pasta smell that takes me back to the memory of sitting on the front porch watching life go by day by day.

We sit and talk.

Panthers would win and Pop would gloat.

Nan would watch the chase.

Dylan would play his games.

A simpler time.

Me and Pop would talk for hours and at the end of the day he would make his pasta bake. My favourite food.

I would take in the smells.

A note of love and cheesy goodness.

Your nose could taste the slow cooked mince.

My heart could feel his hugs as I eat.

A simpler time.

I read the rare recipe.

Still stained with spaghetti sauce.

Pop’s pasta bake is a simpler time.

It’s a time I cherish.

You can always smell the happiness

in the air when it’s made.