My Grandfather Smelled Like Morocco
By Sarah Flora Chocron
I remember being small and hugging
his wide and comforting figure
and feeling the prickly tweed of his sport jacket
against my cheeks
and smelling
the aniseed Arak liquor
the dried tea mint leaves
the strong cologne he wore
the pounds of cumin in his suitcase
the semolina bread dipped in Argan oil
the other side of the Atlantic on Casablanca’s shores
the fabric with which he made caftans and dresses
the air of El Hafid Street
And I wondered how all these things could
combine into one scent
that persisted and remained every time
he traveled to see me
perhaps it was a smell that all grandfathers carried
perhaps it was Morocco
or perhaps it was the aroma of his
generosity that outpoured towards
all those deserving, deemed by the virtue
of having a beating heart.
Sarah Flora Chocron is a sophomore from Montreal, QC, and Wichita, KS, studying information science and history. As a writer, she is an alum of both the Lake Forest Writing and Thinking Workshop and the SCAD Summer Seminar in Media Writing for which she credits much of her growth as a poet. She was previously published in 826 National’s Poets in Revolt!, The Mire, The Decameron Project, and Élan’s International Student Magazine. She enjoys writing poetry that memorializes people, places, or customs that are most dear to her and is grateful to be featured in Cellar Door’s online publication.