I was told that after the war a patrol of soldiers found me lying unconscious in an abandoned building in a town I could not remember. The soldiers brought me to a hospital where I was gradually revived and given medication for some wounds I had received. These were not gunshot wounds. When I awoke, I could not recall who I was or where I had come from. That is, I did not know if I belonged to this town, …
Tag: Writing
Pencil Poems by Mike Lewis-Beck
SMELL OF PENCILS I reek of pencils. I smell of pencils. I collect pencils— thousands by now. My first, a drawing pencil, French: Conté, forest green, an HB. Hone from cedar. Smells like incense sharpened. Shavings fill the sharpener. I throw them on a fall fire, a burning pencil smell— of pine resin or old mold. The lead doesn’t smell like lead. A mix of graphite and clay, its burn can stink of sulfur, paint impurities. Between my finger and …
Sillage 4: Fille en Aiguilles * Poem + Essay * Jehanne Dubrow
Aromatica Poetica is delighted to present the fourth in the Sillage series by Jehanne Dubrow. She is the author of several books of poetry and prose that dance with our heart’s senses, including Taste: A Book of Small Bites, which we highly recommend! Each of the 12 poems are written in the voice of a specific perfume—this one is Fille en Aiguilles[i]—and were begun during the height of the pandemic. For this Sillage series, the poems are paired with a …
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Sillage 1: Chanel No. 19 * Poetry + PROSE * Jehanne Dubrow
Aromatica Poetica is delighted to present the first in a new series called Sillage by Jehanne Dubrow. She is the author of several books of poetry and prose that dance with our heart’s senses, including Taste: A Book of Small Bites, which we highly recommend! Each of the 12 poems are written in the voice of a specific perfume—this first one is Chanel No. 19—and were begun during the height of the pandemic. For this Sillage series, the poems are …
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Author and High Priestess of Home Mixology, Lindsay Merbaum, Interviewed by Leona Godin
Lindsay Merbaum is a witchy writer and high priestess of home mixology crafting cocktails/mocktails inspired by the moods and themes of contemporary reads. As soon as our mutual writer friend, Jess deCourcy Hinds, introduced us, this interview was fated. Lindsay’s thoughtful responses to our questions brings together so many of the things we at Aromatica Poetica hold dear: writing, scent, mixology, botanical diversity, books, creativity, magic, and more. Leona Godin, our founding editor, interviewed her via email. Aromatica Poetica: …
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“She Left the Apples” * Fiction * Yash Seyedbagheri
When Mother left my sister Nancy and me, she left the apples. But she took the typewriter, hi-fi, Sinatra records. She even took the leftover meatloaf. She took these things with precision, as if her moment was passing, all too fast. As if she needed to rush into the world and things wouldn’t wait for her. I was twelve, Nancy sixteen. But Mother left the apples. She hated them. Too domestic. Mother encouraged us to stay healthy. She promised a …
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“Dumpster Lives” * Fiction * Yash Seyedbagheri
I like sorting through the dumpster behind my apartment every night. I inhale possibility and pungency, moldy cheddar cheese, dying pizzas. I examine discarded items with tenderness, even if I must crane my neck. There are boxes for flat screen TVs, crumpled cartons of Bud Light, blue and white arresting my eyes. Old newspapers. Styrofoam and crumpled cardboard. Discarded garbage cans. But there’s also a crumpled joint or two and a couple Michelina’s TV dinners with their soothing green boxes. …
Dorian Gray’s Psychology of Perfumes, from the 1891 novel by Oscar Wilde, Scent Aesthete Extraordinaire
“The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn,” is the opening sentence of The Picture of Dorian Gray, so you know Oscar Wilde knew how to use scent to set a scene! The gothic novel was decried as indecent, because of its current of …
Tin House ‘Candy’ is Sweet & Twisted! A Review
In full disclosure, I submitted a story to the Tin House Candy issue in the hopes of busting into the sweet success of a major literary journal, and, as of this writing, my Submittable submission is still “in process.” Whether they’ve forgotten about it or pushed it onto consideration for another issue, I don’t know. Ok, now onto the review (im)proper… How could we at Aromatica Poetica not celebrate an issue which, although full of the tantalizing wrappings of candy …