THE FAILURE OF SMELL-O-VISION
Sara Burge

[T]he critics dismissed it as an unpleasant gimmick,
and it was never repeated in a feature-length film.
From the obituary of Mike Todd Jr., producer of the
1960 Smell-O-Vision film Scent of a Mystery

Of course it never took off. Perfecting
the intricacies of coffee brewing, waves breaking,
a city bus rolling away in a puff of clutch and rubber—
too much to overcome. Liz unrolling herself before Caesar,
unbathed barbarians in the muck of blood and limbs,
great white vessels battling in space. A culture sick
from the formulation of romantic comedies. And besides,
it’s not all Julie Andrews on a mountaintop. Torture, really,

all those scents embedded in memory,
carefully locked away until we stumble across their triggers.
His favorite cologne, leaves burning the day she left,
the dinner cooking when mother, phone in hand,
slid mutely to the floor. The stink of war
secreted into theater seats. Too much best left in forgetfulness
lurches back. The victims of our private tragedies
setting us up for the kiss, their arms around us in the dark.