Like prying pods of milkweed
so those astral seeds effuse—
unseaming magazine ads for perfume.
Anointing my wrists with scented glue,
running each over the edge of a page,
testing scents I aspired to buy
and classifying my olfactory taxonomy.
Grass evoked the world I’d known
with hints of rain and magnolia
slight as fog above an unmown field.
DNA’s rosemary, oakmoss, and mint,
ancient and clear as purpose; glass
spiraled bottle signifying sentience
and enduring iteration. Both
ethereal and hyperreal, Destiny
offered apricots, orchids, and roses–
bottle opaque as an eyelid,
veil of petals sheer as promise.
Samsara was amber, sandalwood,
ylang ylang, peach. Syllabically lulling,
its s and a extending, repeating, suggesting
endlessness. Cycle of birth and death
rebranded as serenity in ongoingness.
Angel’s burst of praline and patchouli
lit the crystal facets of that star,
making heaven of my pulse and ordinary air.
Leave a Reply