Gretchen Rubin shared a writing exercise to capture a person or place, called the Five-Senses Portrait. For each of the five senses (hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, touching), you write a list of five associations to create a sensory snapshot of that person or place. I decided to write a five-senses portrait for my childhood summer spot, but once I got going I just wrote until I ran out of associations. I left room in my journal to add more, but for now:
Hearing:
- caw-caw of the crows
- crickets
- lake water lapping stone steps
- clap of summer thunder
- crunch of gravel
- moan of distant highway traffic
- click of the gate latch
- oars cutting through the water
- a swimming kickoff
Seeing:
- lake surface sparkling with bobbing diamonds in the morning
- silhouette of the mountains
- wildflowers
- loons
- otters
- sunset
- moths fluttering around an outdoor lightbulb
- mist rising from the lake in the early morning
- sandbox toys
- minnows
- counting mosquito bites
Tasting:
- lake water
- radishes
- peaches
- plums
- cherries
- grilled zucchini
- grilled cheese sandwich from the sandwich maker
- sticky mezonos bagel
- maple-frosted doughnut
- pizza knish
- soft vanilla ice cream
- roasted marshmallows
- Cap’n Crunch
- iced java
- Oasis passion fruit juice
Smelling:
- OFF
- calamine lotion
- grilling
- musty cabin
- Coppertone sunscreen
- old books
Feeling:
- wet sand
- icy lake water
- hot loft bedroom
- tugging on a bathing suit
- flip flops
- smooth paver stones turning to pebbly stone pathway
- tanning
- peeling off wet cover-up and wrapping on a dry terry robe
I’m intrigued by the thought of writing a five-senses portrait of myself. Where/who would you write about?
