Smelly Poems on the Radio
“Join the IAO team and friends on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month at 5pm PT on Lookout FM and we’ll take you somewhere fascinating, smelly, and always original.” Institute of Art and Olfaction
June 2021 The Roses
Episode 11: A Perfumer’s Nature (06/10/2021)
March 2021 Game Stop Gamble
Game stop Gamble IAO instagram
January 2021 Travelling Jasmine
POEMS
THE ROSES
Aesthetically pleasing.
Summers teasing.
They keep spilling over the garden fence.
101 ways with roses.
Hoarding precious petals in my Oma's handwoven cane basket.
Textural smooth velvety delights.
Still alive. Some jammy. Hot from the sun.
Windswept.
A little green.
Feel it on your cheek.
Softer than anything.
Donna Lipowitz 04/27/2021
Los Angeles
GAME STOP GAMBLE
The Game Stop gamble.
The dream was big.
It smelt fantastic. In the thick of it.
Like a bare chested crisp shirted Fougere fragranced fancy man.
We are In The Money.
Adrenaline overdrive.
Effervescent, energetic, hopeful.
Salty, sticky keyboards.
Snacks and sweaty pits.
Fast money getting faster.
Big dreams getting bigger.
Sleepless nights, unwashed polyester sheets.
Passing days muddled.
Forgetting to shower.
The anticipation is impossible.
Donna Lipowitz
Los Angeles 02/03/2021
TRAVELLING JASMINE
I live wherever the jasmine grows.
The jasmine I speak of is not the ‘real’ jasmine as one knows of in perfumery.
It’s the common pinkish one that grows on fences in cities and suburbs.
Common name: Pink Jasmine
Botanical name: Jasminum polyanthum
It’s the real jasmine to me, the jasmine I truly know. I find myself meeting it in most places I’ve taken roost in for long enough to call home.
I’m twenty something.
Australia, Melbourne, West Footscray. Late winter I’d find it climbing high on wooden fences to catch the sun. I’d steal a sprig or two on walks with my dog Charlie, bringing it home to perfume my cheerful but cold little house across from the park.
I’m thirty something.
UK, London, Crouch End. Down Tregaron (I could never pronounce it right) Ave, just round the corner from our tiny garden flat, there was a healthy hedge billowing over a neighbour’s front fence. I wasn’t too shy to take my pick when the blooms were generous in the Spring. Made our musty cluttered flat feel cultured and fancy.
I’m forty something.
USA. Los Angeles, Los Feliz.
It was early spring when we met, you made me feel at home.
That florist on the corner of Hillhurst, covered in Jasmine vine. Intoxicating and familiar. Reassuring and gentle. Resilient, reliable.
Easily adapts to new environments, like myself I guess. Always popping up somewhere new.
Donna Lipowitz
Los Angeles 12/15/2020