Focus on the Senses: All of Them

We are blessed with five senses: Sight, Taste, Sound, Touch, and Smell (STSTS). Well, at least most of us are; I am smell impaired because of allergies. If we are writing, we need to make use of all these senses (I have to work hard on that last one). I am continually amazed with Elizabeth Bishop's poetry. If you take a look at her "At the Fishouses" you will find she makes use of all five senses in that single poem.

I got the following idea from Tell It Slant by Brenda Miller and Suanne Paola. Use all five of your senses to tell about your favorite dinner. I am working on my favorite dinner. It is an Armenian feast and I am working hard on describing a meal that not many people would be familiar with: keyma, basturma, sou bourge, sarma, dolma, kufta, pilaf, shishkebob, peda, lamajoon, and paklava. My task is to describe a 4-hour meal in terms that everyone -- anyone -- can understand. How do these foods look? My task is to describe exotic tastes in terms that someone from Kansas can understand. Foods do have sounds and how they feel to your fingers (some foods are meant to be eaten with fingers) and in your mouth are important. Finally, with food there is always the smell. I can walk into a Middle Eastern restaurant and the smells immediately take me back to childhood.

So, the task is to describe a meal using all the senses. Take your time and go back to what you write several times. This exercise will help you transfer use of all senses to other situations, like Bishop's Fishouses.