Monday, March 14, 2011

To Make Violet Perfume


Purge yourself of evil intentions.
Eat meat and wear only leather, so plants will think
you are a carnivore. Don't use scented soap.
Violets will flee from odor-predators.

Do not rely on your sense of smell.
The odor of violets deadens the nose--
you can detect it only once.

Follow the flight of the Setaceous Hebrew Character
in egg-laying season. It will guide you
through the kabbalistic maze
of its intimate relationship with this plant,
a labyrinth you perceive as enchanted forest.

Should you find a clump
of flowers, deep or pale purple
don't look too hard at them-- violets
will suck rhodopsin from your retina
leaving you dark-blind.

Ignore the blossoms: they are only fit
for rabbit food. Dig up the roots
and you will find delicate nodules just the shade
of half-bleached petals. That
is the source of the fragrance:
hidden, disappearing,
blinding, numbing
essence of shy.

--image couretsy of Magpie Tales
Collection available! Knocking from Inside

8 comments:

Unknown said...

What a fabulous, unique, well-constructed response to the prompt photo. Superb.

Anonymous said...

Clever take...good job!

Tumblewords: said...

Your work always leaves me speechless - in the most wonderfully vivid way!

Arian Tejano said...

this has instructed me and still i can't get enough. thanks for the share.

Helen said...

This is one of the more interesting Magpies ....

Martin said...

I really liked this one.

Poetry24…where news is the Muse

~T~ said...

Fascinating!

Maggie said...

Wow. Love this, too. : )