Showing posts with label Olfactory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Olfactory. Show all posts

Thursday, 4 December 2025

Horripilation - a poem

[Image description: looking upwards through a transparent umbrella to view multiple raindrops.
Photo ©️ & courtesy @paubearman on Instagram.]


*


horripilation



a wonderful

if infrequent

horripilant event

a mild evening

a light rain falling

shooting-stars

visible momentarily

passing through

the amber glow

of street-lighting

raindrops tickle

on exposed flesh

a cool breeze

tousling my hair

though

not worrying

how I appear

a sweet, earthy scent

exudes from nature’s pores

penetrates

my nostrils

and stimulates

my olfactory sense

a total

sensual

experience

my id and ego

are in accord

just for once

my physiology

responds

messages

are dispatched

rapidly

breathing deepens

contraction

of cutaneous muscles

erection

of hairs on my skin

temporary pimples

spread like a rash

goose-flesh

and in turn

this arouses

a further reaction

another deep inhalation

then a shiver

takes root in my chest

sending its tendrils

to my neck

and chills

down my spine

all the way to my coccyx

the ignition

to a body-wide

explosion

of pleasurable

sensation

such

horripilation



*



A Spanish-language translation of this updated poem will hopefully follow shortly!


 

Monday, 24 March 2014

Horripilation


After so much time in Spain and away from the UK, I am beginning to miss rain…

An alternative title to this poem would be 'goose-bumps' or might even be 'orgasm'!


horripilation


a wonderful
if infrequent
horripilant event
a mild evening
a light rain falling
shooting stars
visible momentarily
passing through
the amber glow
of street lighting
raindrops tickle
my exposed flesh
a cool breeze
tousling my hair
though not worrying
how I appear
a sweet, earthy scent
exudes from nature’s pores
penetrates
my nostrils
and stimulates
my olfactory sense
a total
sensual
experience
my id and ego
are in accord
just for once
my physiology
responds
messages
are dispatched
rapidly
my breathing deepens
contraction
of cutaneous muscles
erection
of hairs on my skin
temporary pimples
spread like a rash
goose-flesh
and in turn
this arouses
a further reaction
another deep inhalation
and a shiver
takes root in my chest
sending its tendrils
to my neck
and chills
down my spine
all the way to my coccyx
the ignition
to a body-wide
explosion
of pleasurable
sensation