Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Fragrance

“Ooh, but I still smell her. [Inhales deeply through nose] Women! What can you say? Who made 'em? God must have been a fuckin' genius. The hair... They say the hair is everything, you know. Have you ever buried your nose in a mountain of curls... just wanted to go to sleep forever?” - Scent of a Woman

I know each aroma that emanates from my husband and believe it or not, I love every one of them – particularly the scent of his shoulders as my eyes flutter and I curl up against him in those waking moments before the dawn. I love the softness of his breath; the mild sour of his sweat; the apple of his pomade; the sand of his soles; the subtle, entrancing spice of his neck. Whether freshly groomed or leisurely shaggy, he always radiates a hypnotic wonder that paralyzes me. We make for interesting cavies in the study of romantic chemistry.

As I lie next to my husband ingesting his sweetness, or inhale what lingers on his pillow when he is gone, I sometimes find myself considering the importance of aromatic compounds to the success of a relationship. We have been known to writhe in laughter at each other’s unpleasant stories of the fetid clam hatchery and the dime-store musk of former flames. What exactly is it about one person’s hygienic habits that are so repulsive to the first lover, but so palatable to the next? After all that contemplation, all I am left to comprehend is that, whatever olfactory god blessed my husband's glands, he has ruined me for other men.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are obviously a nice person, and have worthwhile and interesting things to say.

But it looks like you drafted your post, and then used the 'Thesaurus' function in Word to look for more complicated, less accurate versions of whatever perfectly acceptable but simpler word you originally chose. So you end up with clunky prose that doesn't actually appropriately use the major carat words randomly strewn about.

I think a less ornate (and strenuous) writing style might suit you better and be easier on your readers.

Jessica said...

:-)

You don't give me enough credit. The Shift f7 function in Word does not have nearly the selection of other, more robust sources.

You also underestimate my vocabulary. The language I choose is thoroughly understood. The somewhat inappropriate use of the carat words [aside - I appreciate your selection of 'carat'... it's quite genius; I'm going to borrow that sometime] is poetically intentional because I expect great things of my readers.

I do appreciate the critique though. And you're right. If (when?) I endeavour to write something more serious than a blog, I will tone down my overt, uber-supplementation.

Keep reading :-)

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, I find your critique fascinating. By your standards, Marbury vs Madison is an unmitigated disaster of writing style. The horror. For 'newspaper column' style writing, using a 150-word vocabulary is sufficient; along with the simplistic "subject verb period" construct. I think Jess is laboring under a different set of ideals. It's freestyle writing. I say, stack em and rack em (give us gross alliterations if it pleases her).

Anonymous said...

Pheromones people, look into it. And yes, there's a historic wealth of really good dirty jokes here to be mined too. Even before the Napoleon one. But yeah. Sent of a woman. A very complicated and ancient multi billion dollar industry lies in that simple thought. Thank goodness we still have the whales around who've survived it too. Cheers & Good Luck! 'VJ'

Anonymous said...

I actually loved this post. It reeks of true love and that just they type of post I hope to find.

Sounds like anon has a stick up his/her a@s and is a bit full of him/herself.