Smelling as time travel
I underlined this part in Kaveh Akbar’s book Martyr! about how Orkideh could smell lavender to travel to any other point in his life.
I used to walk with a sprig of lavender in my pocket—smelling it, I could go to almost any other point in my life, which I believe was as close to time travel as anyone’s come. I’d like credit for that.
This makes me think that investing the time and effort to stop and smell the flowers—as the saying goes—is like dropping an anchor in time. Years later, that scent could become the key that unlocks a long-forgotten point in time.
The same can be said for all senses. Vision is overwhelmed, of course, but maybe touch—or taste, definitely taste. Hearing too, mostly through songs.
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This reminded me how memories are bound to the sensations felt when they were made.
