Directive 804-B: Mandatory Protocols for the Domestic Transit of Fragrance Decants (ROUND 1)
*Let's workshop this poem about mailing fragrance decants in a dystopian near future where US mail services are regulated by an Equity Compliance Office straight out of the HR nightmares of Franz Kafka.
Directive 804-B: Mandatory Protocols for the Domestic Transit of Fragrance Decants
Perfumer Vetting
Research the perfumer’s personal history and public record prior to mailing. Play it safe. Let their identity be a guide as to how deep you dig. A white male perfumer with dreads, to give just one example, represents an obvious cultural concern. If you have to ask why, then you yourself have things to unlearn and should get that taken care of first. Only BIPOC perfumers, or those with otherwise marginalized identities, may be submitted without additional documentation. Attach a brief positionality statement from the perfumer where possible, regardless of identity.
Effective immediately: any history of interaction that you, or any perfumer whose product you are mailing, have had with Joseph DeLapp of Rising Phoenix must also be explained in writing BEFORE MAILING ANY PARCEL OF ANY NATURE. This white male’s criticisms of Islam alone, to say nothing of his public statements concerning the role of heart disease and supposed drug dosage in the brutal murder of George Floyd, constitute hate speech against a protected group and are incompatible with citizenship within a free country.
If concerned about whether even an optically safe perfumer might be problematic, consult the Fragrance Equity Database (FED) or submit a vetting request via the online portal (search Form 109-E).
Land Acknowledgment
Parcels do not move in a vacuum. They move across a stolen continent. Senders must track their package’s expected transit route through UPS/USPS regional distribution hubs and include a written acknowledgment for each indigenous land crossed during transit. Failure to acknowledge constitutes invalidation and erasure. Invalidation and erasure are the most insidious twins of structural violence.
Sender Disclosure
To protect postal workers and recipients from any unwanted interaction with privileged identities, white senders—above all, white cisgender males—must affix a high-visibility warning label to the exterior package. Handlers and recipients alike must be able to make an informed decision as to whether they want to validate an oppressor. Nondisclosure will be treated as an act of epistemic coercion.
Enforcement
Parcels that do not follow these guidelines are subject to immediate seizure. Senders found in violation must complete a formal impact acknowledgment and, for repeat violations, will be referred for a structured equity recalibration pathway at a certified immersive learning facility.
Questions? Contact the Office of Fragrant Equity, Compliance Division.
“We need books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.”—Kafka (against the safe-space cancel culture pushed by anti-art bullies, left and right)
