Perfume Clash

We each have our star to follow.

Twinkling, riotous.

Born of the

crystal flask.

.

To each their notes.

And where to now?

While we are stuck…

On this drab train.

.

One space and one

direction.

Our every soul

seeks escape.

We each incant:

Make room for

my wonder.

.

Landscapes,

the bygone,

the ages.

The fury in

the feeling,

in the senses.

.

Doped up we ride

against dullness

endemic.

Our dreams dance

a fighting dance.

.

Each life takes a trip.

On this commute.

In this train car.

Survive on perfume,

on coffee, on

forced hope.

.

Breathe not the fumes

of things,

of others.

Breathe your dreams…

.

These are

the warring dreamlines:

.

Ambergris draws in

desire, from a shore

not your own.

.

Neroli lifts you from

work heels,

to a lost

evening garden.

.

Sandalwood says you

dwell, still,

in that desert night,

high on its shards

of sparkling glass.

.

Musk says that lover

never left,

not truly.

.

Jasmine, in sweet

whiteness,

hides an indole

telling of skin

under silk.

.

All our dream paths

ferrying joys-

of elsewhere-

scream…

For space.

-

Louise I. Baker

Book recommendation (cover shown above):

The Scent Trail, Celia Lyttelton. Bantam Books. 2008.