The Cringe of Unearned Melodrama (ROUND 2)
scent of the day: Creme de la Creme, by Areej le Dore
Nice sandalwood presence but mild in bith texture and aroma and spice—nothign like what one can get from Ensar Sandalwoods: Santal Sultan, Santal Royale, Sultan Rose Attar. Salty and creamy but Mr. Gris is more that—albeit Mr. Gris does come off as more aquatic and whispy and Japanese in aesthetic, whereas here in Creme we we have a resinous goop. First wear, not super impressed. Oud in base seems a bit inferior quality. Maybe the bottle needs a nice vigour shake to wake it up and/or maybe I am having a bad nose day. I smell that same lovely Kewra of Al Majmua, and it brings a wildflower honey impression that adds to the sensation of thickness here. But in Al Majmua the herbal side of the kewra sings. The subtle spiciness and the goo could suggest Fate Man. But this has nothing on Fate Man except that Fate Man uses annoying synthetics in the base. The naturalism aloen here, and how the whoel creates this skin scent that almost goes in the direction of milk chocolate, is very pleasant. And that itself tells me this deserves more from me than I am giving it. Yes, as this settles down it does move more into Mr. Gris territory: less goopy and more beach air.
*Let's workshop this poem about a snobbish writer who mocks tacky poetry set against backdrops, center-justified dreck no less pathetic than Hallmark cards, only to wonder if he might be a joke himself
The Cringe of Unearned Melodrama
Poems of unironic Oh Bemoan center-justified against cupid cloudery that steals more
heart than it lends (at least for readers not Hallmark jokes themselves)—what had him
despair for mankind now humbles him: “To whom am I a joke—to even them, perhaps?”
“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)
