What I want
I want to walk with my friend through unknown forests, and I want to pause patiently and wait for him as he sniffs this tree, that grass, these rocks, those bushes. I want to watch his nose engrossed in its work, and I want to feel fascinated by what secret smells lie out of sight to me. I want to hurry to keep up with him as he finds a scent trail and begins trotting after it quickly, his nose to the ground, his tail high wags.
I want to be the one that a dog sniffs sometimes. I want to hold a morsel of food hidden in one hand while my other closed hand is empty, and I want him to sniff both and then nose or paw at the one that he wants me to open; his second guess will also yield the same reward for playing along. I want to come home, and let my friend find out where I have been, being glad as he sniffs deeply at my clothes, my face, my hands. I want to wake up to a bright and fresh morning after my friend and I have just had an incredible night's sleep, and I want to be sniffed by him in that moment just because he happens to enjoy how his friend smells.
I want to use my kitchen to its fullest and cook incredible things--things that are incredible for both of us, because we will be eating it together--and I want to see his sniffing nose in the air as he watches me, his anticipation palpable.
I want to press my face behind my friend's ear and inhale deeply. I want to smell his belly, his scruff, his paws, and his breath. I want to be astonished thinking about how, if his fur and his breath smells this amazing to me, and my nose is only a hundredth as good as his is, what a rich and bombastic world of sensory perception he must live in, every day.
I want to see an animal's nose wiggle back and forth even a single time, and be humbled by it.
Article written by A Crow Indoors With Sunlight Shining In Through The Nearby Windows, Warming And Illuminating Her Beak And Her Feathers (January 2026)
Questions, comments or concerns? Check out our Matrix server! https://join.zooey.pub
