Poetic Perfumers – Another Student’s Poetic Take on an Assignment
Originally published Aug. 1, 2013 My student Claire Lautier – who is already an accomplished perfumer, and a member of the Natural Perfumers Guild – surprised me with a poem about the production of aromatics. who would have thought to find poetry in the growth, harvesting, distillation, enfleurage and other aspects of extracting the essences? Well, actually, there is a lot of poetry in the process, but it takes an artist to ‘extract’ the words and turn them into art. Exhale A seed, a blueprint for a life Spiraling roots down into the dark damp Holds the earth and is held, still blind The volcanic flutter A gossamer moth’s wing within That yet Moves tides Sends planets hurtling through space Forces to the light A tender tendril This one not crushed underfoot With mighty swoops through the telescoped eye of time shudders toward the Sun Through the fat drops of rain It has a destiny A good thing it’s fearless Now all in flower Swaying with its sisters in the sacred hills Where generati