Petrichor from the Greek words for stone and the blood of the gods the fresh earthy smell of rain on dry soil During an arid spell some plants release oils into the earth Rain droplets aerosolize these oils into particles which are swept up in the currents of the air and brought to us
In a quiet little nook just out of the rain you know the one a warm zephyr dances on the air between our lips I breathe it in and kiss you
Ozone from the old Greek the pretty words all are meaning ‘to smell’ an alternate form of oxygen that has three atoms instead of two Lightning splits O2 and N2 in the air which recombine into nitric acid a loose-bonded molecule that oxidizes and forms among other things the spark-sharp scent of ozone
My skin tingles when it’s not touching yours Your fingertips are thunderbolts fulminations on a breathless body
They say smell is the closest sense to memory Both are processed by the brain’s limbic system as is emotion
Outside the air crackles the rain falls Inside the heat of us flaring scratches on your alabastrine skin the smell of your hair and the soil and the lightning is its own storm