Valsalva Maneuver

Let’s workshop this poem about what happens when a body built for spectacle is asked--even at a cover shoot--to stop performing, about the uneasy beauty that emerges when strength is stripped of pose

scent of the day: Musc Millesime, by Ensar Oud

This is only my first wear

Very close to Musk Khabib, the core similarity lying in their deep and powerful animalic-musk and rich floral concentration: (1) both feature a prominent diffusive musk base (Deer Musk and Ambergris in Boertnikoff, Mongolian Musk and Tibetan Musk and seemingly ambergris too in Ensar) that provides an enveloping and sensual foundation, ensuring a long-lasting skin-like intensity that unites their dry-downs; (2) opulent and creamy florals—Ylang-ylang and frangiapani in Bort and various forms of Jasmine in Ensar—not only melt into the animalic base in a similar fashion, lending the overall scent an impression of dense velvety texture, but bring a tropicana suntan lotion character./ The two fragrances diverge significantly on paper but this ttranslates, at least according my nose and my limited experiences, into differences that are not too major: (1) Bort’s contains oakmoss and vetiver (these are quite subtle though) as well as spices (cardomon and nutmeg) that are not as prpnonced in Ensar; (2) Ensar’s definitely plunges quickly past its citus side (not as pronounced as in Bort) into darker territory not only with its (black caraway, and apricot) but with its animalic-reinforcing notes (costus, oud, indolic jasmine)/ For those who love the musk Khabib bright tropical musk but were let down by the lack of growl, finding in it mainly an ylang-frangiapani focused scent boosted by musk, will love this Ensar.

Valsalva Maneuver

Make the bodybuilder pose 
for the cover utterly flaccid—
listening not declaring,

exhaling into mortality
not tensing into marble:
no fissured flex or granite grin, 

no twist into shadowy angles
that let the ultimate terror
photograph as its conquest.