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 generations have been cut down Sacrificed on the altar of Alchemy I must have you, He says It's not enough That you perfume the breeze Too ephemeral, whipped away I will contain you, keep you here, I will capture you and make you mine (For though he is a god He is not immune to fear And desire) Exhale, he commands Petals drown in fat Exhale Exhale Pressed upon the pane Transfer your breath To the thick and airless frame Saturated, drunk, sated and spent His memory blotted by the lustful bender The pale wilted petals are plucked away For the powers have been passed The molecular dance is a slow Heavy shuffle of dozing bodies Leaning together trapped and weighted Plump and sticky To be scraped off and bathed In alcohol Pure again, cool and clear And sober The few drops yield of a passionate night Is pristine A liquid ruby His eyes roll inward Aroused again by what was rendered up The waft of a thousand thousand breezes Infinite innocent seduction I never wanted your body He says I always want your soul copyright Claire Lautier 2013 Claire's Bio: Claire Lautier is the founder and owner of Grasse Roots Perfumery.  She came to Natural Perfumery through many years in the creative arts.  Claire has been a professional actor of stage and screen for twenty years, and is a multi-passionate entrepreneur who actively follows the three streams of creative inspiration which dominate her life:  Acting, Natural Perfume, and Gyrotonic Expansion System® (of which she is a certified teacher).  She sees these as 'all the same' and is happiest when in the flow of creative energy, whatever its form.  She is an honor graduate of Duke University and the Juilliard School, a fluent French speaker, and happily makes her home in Stratford, Canada. Tell me, admit it, didn't that poem delight and surprise you?  Do you want to put yourself in the role of a student and look at your perfumery work in a new way?  Aba Williams did so recently, and now Claire.  Do you feel the rush of looking at something with fresh eyes - and noses - and psyches?