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Pheromone
by Janet Dale

November 17, 2021 Contributed By: Janet Dale

Moth
Photo by Malcolm Baskerville on Unsplash

pheromone | ˈfɛrəˌmoʊn

In 1959, the first pheromone was isolated, purified, and named for the silkworm moth.

 

When the female Bombyx mori secretes 

her sex hormone, she can elicit a response 

from as far as 5 miles away. 

 

In the wild, molecules carry 

through the air, are intercepted by 

antennae—then to her they fly.

 

Technology gives us an advantage,

which is to say our signals radiate more 

than 5 miles, but behavioral response is the same.

 

Once together, all senses are heightened, we 

taste the rust of hair, hear constellations of freckles, 

feel beating vessels below the surface, see the divine.

 

Primal, this cycle, days after separation we search 

for one another: our delicious ghost scent in 

sheets or pillows, on shirts or skin. Busy making 

a memory or with hope of getting to experience again. 


Although she claims Memphis as home, JANET DALE  lives in Georgia where she teaches first year writing at Georgia Southern University. Nominated for a Pushcart Prize (2021), her work has appeared in The Boiler, Hobart, Zone 3, Really System, and others.

Filed Under: Featured Content, Poetry Posted On: November 17, 2021

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