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The Smell of Joy

Salt. Seaweed. The last
lumps of softened cherry
ice the tongue extracts
from a paper cone. Other
people’s sunscreen. Mustard.
Hint of singe
on reddening skin.
French fries as the man
lifts the wire basket dripping
from its oil bath. Also, the
whiff of a brown fish
left on the flats
when the tide pulled back
brings bliss
to a dozen flies.

—
Merrill Oliver Douglas is the author of Persephone Heads for the Gate (Silverfish Review Press, 2024) and the chapbook Parking Meters into Mermaids (Finishing Line Press, 2020). Her poems have appeared recently in the Baltimore Review, Gyroscope Review, SWWIM Every Day, Whale Road Review and other journals.

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