Side Effects or Someone Else's Life

I am full of distraction because even though I washed my new thrift-store khakis I can still smell the soap of the previous owner. Too perfumey! I have a hound dog's nose. It's true. I am a bloodhound.

I heated up my herb tea in the rescued microwave. Today was the first time I used it. I rescued it in February from a snowy sidewalk when walking my dog one night. The neighbors told me the people were moving and left it behind. It works! It's clean! Today I plugged it in up in the third floor and it too gave off a scent of someone else's life.

Last night I saw 1/3 of this image on twitter https://portlandreview.org/ghazal-for-my-mother/. I recognized the artist even with the heads and feet of the characters cut off. I knew it was an Arshile Gorky painting. How did my brain remember a random portion of this image? Perhaps my step-father was right when he called me eagle eye. I used to find a record for him out of his record collection in seconds, by just glancing at the spines.

Right now I am distracted by the decongestant which helps tame my allergies but there's a side effect: it feels like shooting stars in my gums and a washing machine agitating clothes in my abdomen.