Poetry and Scent: December 2015 Issue of Poetry Magazine to Feature David Seth Moltz of D.S.& Durga “Scratch and Sniff” Custom Scent

poetry magazine covers1915-2015

Covers of Poetry Magazine June 1915-April 2015 courtesy of The Poetry Foundation

Pick up any fashion or beauty magazine, and inevitably designer and mainstream perfume scent strips assault your senses.  This is a marketing strategy that has been around for years. Scratch and Sniff has taken on a new, innovative concept.   The December issue of Poetry magazine,the oldest monthly devoted to verse in the English-speaking world  asked the perfumer David Seth  Motlz  D.S. & Durga to translate Jeffrey Skinner’s poem, “The Bookshelf of the God of Infinite Space,” into a custom scent, available to subscribers.  The scent is only available as a micro encapsulated scented page on an insert in the magazine. 

david-seth-moltz-d-s-durga-cafleurebon

David Seth Moltz of D.S. and Durga

“I can't tell you how excited I am for this project. I am passionate about pushing the boundaries of perfume.  I think our culture is beginning to understand more of perfume's terminology, concepts, and materials.  Perfume is also beginning to find its place in the art world.  I am honored to be have a piece of perfume in Poetry magazine (whose historic pages has published the poets ALLEN GINSBERG, EZRA POUND, and MARIANNE MOORE!).  It the magazine's first-ever perfume collaboration and readers will be able sniff the scent via an included notecard (subscribe before Oct 23rd to sniff it in your mailbox).  There is an essay in the magazine that outlines my process for dealing with Jeffery Skinner's playful and expansive poem – “ The Bookshelf of the God of infinite Space".-David Seth Moltz

D.S & Durga/Volatile Scent Studio Photo by Bryan Derballa

Poetry and perfume both utilize the power of suggestion and are capable of creating entire worlds through subtle illusion. Poetry magazine was the first to publish TS Elliot "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock"  in 1915, a microencapsulation of a scent is something that has never happened and probably will never happen again.

Whatdoesthispoemsmelllike

An exhibition exploring the intersection of poetry and scent will go up at the Poetry Foundation December 11. David will be producing a scent opera — a series of 12 cloches each containing a kind of scent narrative

Please note that the scented edition of Poetry magazine will only be available to subscribers if they subscribe before October 23. Interested readers may subscribe here

-via Poetry Magazine and David Moltz of D.S. &Durga

 Editor’s Note:    An interpretation of Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda by Ellen Covey of Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes, created in 2012 was CaFleureBon collaboration) The Sonnet is featured on the Poetry.org website here

Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief

Imagine if every poem had a corresponding scent? What poem would you like Poetry Magazine to scent?

 

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6 comments

  • Wow! I love this concept! It just adds another element to the arts. Eventually, I could even imagine scented books, cd’s and dvd’s. What a wonderful way to go on a creative journey. I’d love to smell a scent strip of The Raven for winter and maybe Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me, Too for Summer.

  • What an amazing concept — a kind of synesthesia. I love this idea! I’ve often wished for a scratch-and-sniff computer monitor. It gives me hope! 🙂

    I used to teach literature in high school. There are a few poems I’d love to see translated thusly… one would be “Full Moon” by Robert Hayden. Another is “Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (this one, perhaps most of all).

    US resident.

  • Valentine Girl says:

    I would love to smell “The Sensitive Plant” by Percy Bysshe Shelley or “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost.

  • fazalcheema says:

    I would go a different path and choose a relatively unknown poem to western readers. It is a short South Korean poem called Wildflower by Na Tae-joo

  • bunchofpants says:

    I’m not sure if it would be an entirely pleasant scent, but the poem “Chicago” by Carl Sandburg suggests many scents. I imagine a scent version of the poem would be some combination of metallic, smoky, animalic and earthy.