—About the Poet/Artist— J.I. Kleinberg’s visual poems have been published in print and online journals worldwide and were featured in a solo exhibit at Peter Miller Books, Seattle, in May 2022. An artist, poet, freelance writer, and three-time Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, she lives in Bellingham, Washington, USA, and on Instagram @jikleinberg. Read 5 more of her visual poems of scent HERE.
Category: Art
Olfactory Report 8: Scent and Architecture * Catherine Haley Epstein
For La Biennale di Venezia’s 17th International Architecture Exhibition the curator Hashim Sarkis, Professor and Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, chose the theme “How Will We Live Together?”. Sixty nations participated to respond, where three new countries included Grenada, Iraq, and the Republic of Uzbekistan. The theme was bolstered by five sub-themes all exploring the plurality of human existence socially, politically and in nature. Among the research, the visuals, the haptic …
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“Ember Opens the Door” * Poetry * Brook Bhagat
Long past bedtime nighttime mountain winter air sparkles ice inside her nose with the inbreath deep, deep, free, they’re asleep, they’re all asleep. Ember closes the door soft behind her and smells the moon: pines, minty, peppery pines, their outlines blurring green together into black. Off the stoop in nightgown and coat, she shifts the kitty backpack of graham crackers, marshmallows, chocolate. Socks, underpants, Jenny doll. Boots crush footprints in hard snow, slow then fast, making for the woods for …
Olfactory Report 7: Rhinoferocious * Catherine Haley Epstein
Rhinoferocious – a word to describe those who defend perfumery as an art Rhino-art – art for your nose Rhinographies – the study of the tendencies of a unique nose. –Words coined and inspired by scent artist, Christophe Laudamiel, included in the Odorbet. I’ve just returned from my first trip to New York City post-covid pingdemic times. A key theme for me during the week is that the handmade is extremely important right now. Human touch is lost in many …
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“Encore II: For Leslie Goshko” * A Poem by Kyle Erickson
“Love poems are the hardest / to write. / Our desire for connection grows / as our bodies let go. // Every night / I’m huddled over poems. / Every morning I’m writing poems, / but my heart beats for you.”
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Disgruntled Elites * Digital Photography * Joe Lugara
I’ve been an abstract painter for decades. When I began producing digital photographs about six years ago, it was with the goal of pushing them away from traditional photography and a little closer to painting. To do that, I needed to find painterly tools within the software that would enable me to make brushstrokes akin to those in my oils, acrylics, and watercolors. These florals, from a series called “Disgruntled Elites,” are more commonly known around the studio as “curious flowers.” …
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6 Micro Poems by Margarita Serafimova
1 After the dark, the stairs up smell of future. 2 I remember when you disappointed me for the first time. Almonds were blossoming, I was south near the border. They were as exquisitely fragrant as happiness. I learned to stand up straight as a person pursuing it. 3 I was in the water, the water was inside of me. I smell of sea. I am going where the ones who first came out of the ocean are. …
“The Aroma of Art” * Nonfiction * Amy Nicholson
I swung open the glass gallery door, and the smell of paint hit me before my eyes even focused on the canvases. Inside was an exhibit of the work of Sean Scully. So. Much. Paint. The pieces consisted of thick, bold lines–mostly horizontal–painted on oil and acrylic on large canvases, aluminum, and wood. Scully is fond of earth tones of browns, greens, brick, and blue, resembling land, sky, and sea. Today, as I queue up Scully’s Landline Far Blue Lake …
“Aunt Dottie I Didn’t Do It” * Short Story * David P. Stewart
The following story about watermelon baseball and other dangerously fun childhood activities comes from Cornbread and Lace: The Privileges of a Mississippi Farmboy, which was written by an author with both feet firmly planted in Mississippi. In David’s thought-provoking manuscript, the anguish of racism, classism, bigotry, patriarchy, war, segregation, and revisionist history are mixed with vivid stories about winged snakes, hot donuts, an old farting mule name Kate, and dinner on the ground. Thought-provoking wisdom from a loving grandmother and an …
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The Olfactory Report 4: Aperture * CATHERINE HALEY EPSTEIN
An aperture is defined as an opening, a hole, or a gap. It is also a special space where light passes through. The perfumery landscape is historically closed and dark where everything is “hush hush”, private and exclusive where holes and gaps are carefully curated and often patched and covered. There are certain people and practices that have been invisible to the broader community, whether they are the perfumer, the farmer, or the artist in general. The work of adjusting …
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