controling the form of my body

i run in the mornings to control the form of my body 

i do not wear deodorant so that i might take in my surroundings

and myself, without filter 

i discover my neighborhood in an olfactory, sensory pattern

two houses carry the delicious tobacco of pipe and cigar

i taste before i smell as i breath through my mouth

sometimes inhaling to smell something new

dryer vents

 newly bloomed flora, menthol eucalyptus

watch for cracked sidewalks and

their having been used as toilets

i run through italian villas, southern plantations, haciendas, ghetto apartment complexes

someone on their way to work hits me with alcohol perfume

i taste breakfast sausage through newly opened windows

 and watch for men watching for me

i listen not to music but for cars driving too slowly

i return to my porch and shed my bottle of mace 

and shoes

perform downward facing dog

greeting the almost risen sun