Musings of a Mongoose - 13. My Mouth Tastes Like Fireworks

My mouth tastes like fireworks

The heat and the smoke of the fuse

Held in my hand like a dumb six-year-old

Allowed to light it for the first time

My mouth tastes like fireworks

The scent is strong as skunk,

But I breathe it in,

The scent of explosions

Of light, and of childlike wonder

I taste nostalgia, and all I want is a longer childhood

Is that too much to ask?

My mouth tastes like fireworks

I'm lost in the sea of sensation,

Overwhelmed by the way the colors pop,

I just tried kimchi again,

It popped in my mouth and I could feel every stinging bite,

My mouth tastes like fireworks,

And it's traveling to my brain like sweet music,

I can lose myself forever in the universe,

The sparkling lights of stars,

Adding color to the sky

I wish I had a meteor shower right now.

My mouth tastes like fireworks,

The colors fade,

The taste of that same old skunk hanging in the air,

It took me somewhere, but… where?

The last traces of smoke hang above me,

The memory of lights fades with it.

My mouth is full of ashes.

My mouth tastes like fireworks,

Cold and spent on the ground,

A trace of dirt and grime from the street,

It's earthy like eating dirt,

Or the mineral remains of my fading youth.

My mouth tastes like fireworks,

Like a dumb six-year-old, I hold it a little too long.

It burns.