Gypsum
Let’s workshop this poem about the patient gaze of walls (even the newest ones), watching us with an austere conscience we really only tend to open up to when a good flooring breaks our myopic trance.
scent of the day: Jubilation XXV, by Amouage
Another old fragrance in my collection. I still do not feel prepared to do a review. Here are my notes.
A sunny-holy-incense Juicy Fruit gum scent / tobacco black currant vetiver sibling of dia man / just as portrayal man and imitation man together form the Bohemian duo, DIA Man and Jubilation Man form the gentleman soft spoken duo / if perfumes are like cats (which they are in the sense that they do not operate on your terms and the more you force them close the more they recede), then jubilation man is one of the most avoidant—operating on its own terms: the aroma itself is inviting but it is a benchmark for a standoffish cat (one that will comes to you, like Dia Man, if you are patient with it and do not keep nose diving) /
nearly perfect, if only a tad less juicy fruit and a tad more oudy or animalic (a la Epic Man) and much thicker (currently not even a runner up for top ten) / king of Amouage and one of the top scents of all time (according to frag-head community) / the John Paul Jones to Reflection Man's Robert Plant / regal sultry scent / opulent masterpiece of sour blackberry middle-eastern resin / it was a love at first sniff (one of my few since Ombre Leather) / one negative people cite is performance issue, which I have seen stated since 2007 (the very date of its release) and which has gotten even more repeated after reformulation / but that might be a function of nose blindness to it given (1) the high dose of galaxolide and iso-e-super (a chemical many struggle to smell) and (2) that the scne tis so good people huff their wrist for more (and it is one like Memoir Man that has something about it that a certain portion of the population go nose blind to it) / while it is not a mega projector, I do not notice performance issue after more experience with it / probably could benefit from oxidation given the natural oils in there(that might help with the nose blind issue like I hope with memoir) / a chameleon scent that develops over time, but always into something timeless /
the dry down scent, an addictive Juicy-Fruit-reminiscent sweet muskiness close to the skin, definitely leaves you wanting more (and perhaps that is one element in many people’s claim that this scent underperforms) / some call it dark and, while I do get a meditative vibe, it is meditative in the sun / could have an old-school vibe (notes you might have picked up on your grandmother in the 80s, but not dated) / all year round like Montaboco / it does have excellent longevity I can testify to, but the scent bubble is intimate / I have tried older bottle and same performance issues / after many wears as a bottle owner I can say that this scent plays tricks: while it might be weaker after reformulation (I cannot say), it is a powerhouse that is simply easy to go noseblind to / Very happy with my bottle performance of jubilation. It is easy to go nose blind. So just let it be. Don't try to find it by burying you nose, it will find you—and then invite you to sniff the arm and find it singing hours and hours in (in my case right now, 10 hours). I smelled it on me in the back of a police car hours later after I had attacked someone trying to rob my house /
Gypsum
Suburban sheet rock looks back
at us, but our fragility
demands such tactical myopia
that it often takes collapse
(acid, fever, grief) to feel it—
even then the stern glare tends
to hide outside of old silence
(castle, abbey, crypt), as if walls
need scars to sprout eyes.