Pushups on Water (ROUND 2)

Let’s workshop this poem that is by no means meant to mock the miracle workings of our savior king--let alone to suggest that his mom, outdone by Aisha centuries later, was an ass-to-mouth freak at 12

scent of the day: Aziyade, by Parfum d’Empire

fruity-funky-fresh-fizzy, soap-cumin-prune—Aziyade I have long described as my favorite Parfum d’Empire. My nose might be burnt a bit from yesterdays Prin (Prin—unlike Ensar—can wallop your nose, one of the down sides). It deserves its praise: novel and yet classic. And it could definitely be a top fifty even in my stacked collection if only its cumin BO were a bit more aggressive. Has Bel Ami cola insinuations but with sawlaj funk and bit of Ambiloux in here too. Aziyade, largely because of the upbeat pomegranate, is a brighter Arabie by Serge Lutens.

I do see Aziyade more now as a feminine scent than I once did—that plummy-BO musk of Jubilation 25 and Rochas Femme, although nothing as captivating as the carnal crotch of Salome (which continues to rise in my implicit ranking). It makes sense that Aziyade, for all its souk fruits and spices, would be belong to the feminine-boudoir category. Aziyadé, after all, is the female main character of the 1879 novel “Aziyadé” that recounts the author’s illicit love affair with a teenaged harem girl by that very name.

Pushups on Water

Since so many today swear
Bruce Lee could do 
a layaway one-inch poke
where you die 

a thousand steps later
or midair dash too fast
for film (or, still absurd, 
even just tap out

Royce Gracie), what
immaculate conceptions 
might halo him 
after millennia of lore? 

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