What the Sunrise Smells Like
(on the East Coast)
Fish.
Salt water and
soaked sand.
The stale whiff of the ocean
that lingers
in damp clothes.
Morning breath
and toothpaste
hidden
under stifled yawns.
Sweat.
and the perseverance
of runners
who dragged
themselves out of bed
that morning.
Filter coffee
in the distance
from the houses of
the ones still struggling
to rise before the sun.
Yesterday's dinner.
and the wet fur
of the dog
eating it.
Sea breeze
holding water vapour
from the first rays
of the sun hitting the waves,
thick with humidity
that clings to
anything in the vicinity
like second skin.
About this Poem
This is based on a prompt from a group called kommune for their series of #NaPoWriMoKommune, which went, "What does ____ smell like? Fill in the blank and answer the question in your poem."
Since I can't exactly share the smell of this with you, here's a picture of the sunrise on the east coast instead that I took one morning when I dragged myself out of bed.
