Singularity

More on perfume

Apr.27, 2006, filed under Miscellany

But they would be men's perfumes, wouldn't they?I followed Clare’s link and wound up ordering a bunch of CB I Hate Perfume samples. The perfumier is Christopher Brosius and his website is here. I didn’t look at that first. Maybe I should have done. His manifesto is something I can appreciate.

I ordered that sample set because I loved the fragrance notes. Especially for At The Beach, although as it turns out I don’t like the scent. Too yellow. I liked the idea of Winter 1972 and actually, it’s not half bad, if a little green and the floral base notes are a touch on the strong side.

But one of the samples is simply stonking. And its name is Black March. It’s like an organic version of Mitsouko. It smells of rotting leaves and compost and the underside of mossy rocks. It has a rich, complex scent that is like a higher-number Platonic solid. The man himself says:

This perfume is inspired by one of my favorite poems, Black March by Stevie Smith. It begins:

“I have a friend at the end of the world. His name is a breath of fresh air.”

The poem ends:

But whatever
new names I give him
he is still an old friend
he says

Whatever names
you give me
I am a breath of fresh air
a change for you

I looked up the full version:

Black March, a poem by Stevie Smith, 1902-1971

I have a friend
At the end
Of the world.
His name is a breath

Of fresh air.
He is dressed in
Grey chiffon. At least
I think it is chiffon.
It has a
Peculiar look, like smoke.

It wraps him round
It blows out of place
It conceals him
I have not seen his face.

But I have seen his eyes, they are
As pretty and bright
As raindrops on black twigs
In March, and heard him say:

I am a breath
Of fresh air for you, a change
By and by.

Black March I call him
Because of his eyes
Being like March raindrops
On black twigs.

(Such a pretty time when the sky
Behind black twigs can be seen
Stretched out in one
Uninterrupted
Cambridge blue as cold as snow.)

But this friend
Whatever new names I give him
Is an old friend. He says:

Whatever names you give me
I am
A breath of fresh air,
A change for you.

And, for once, I agree that someone has put an idea into a scent and I can translate it. So much so I am going to email him.

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