My soul is like ambergris:
its waxen armour protects me from irritation,
from ingested sources that have nourished and maimed
I long for the day my soul will expel itself from my body,
float freely in the salty sea and sun
before it is discovered,
prized and coveted —
as it should be
Ambergris is a poem that I wrote and published on my other blog, Feminist Confessional. If you enjoy this poem, you may want to check it out as I write poetry regularly.
Dear Reader,
I’ll forgive you if you’ve forgotten all about me and Perfume Polytechnic: after all, it’s been almost ten years since my last proper post here. The blog stayed up for a long time afterwards, though I stopped writing due to some ongoing health issues. Perfume Polytechnic continued to receive many views for a long time after and was linked to in various places online.
I made Perfume Polytechnic completely private a few years ago, for personal reasons, but I’ve decided to bring it back. I was always very proud of my work here and the unique scope of the blog was something that gave me a lot of joy and creative fulfillment. I want this work to be available to those who are also interested in all things scent and olfaction.
At this stage, I don’t know if the blog will continue, or if it will act as a kind of archive instead. I still dabble in fragrance a little, though I can only wear very scant amounts of it these days due to various sensitivities. I don’t keep up with the latest trends and releases as I used to.
I still have a fantasy of combining my interest in olfaction with my other creative skills, including music composition and writing. Since leaving Perfume Polytechnic, I started another blog, Feminist Confessional, initially inspired by the massive growth in the #MeToo movement back in 2017. Feminist Confessional is still going strong and features poetry, essays and creative nonfiction in a feminist, confessional style. It is very different to this blog, although those of you with a poetic bent (as many fragrance aficianados are) may also find my poetry interesting. Like this blog, it leans heavily on my own personal experience and stories, but with a focus on my own lived experience of trauma: something I’ve come to understand very well in the past decade.
I do hope you enjoy Perfume Polytechnic and that it continues to expand your knowledge and curiosity of all things olfactory. You can also check out my writing at Feminist Confessional here.
Much love,
Polly (aka Melita Beckett)
Perfume Polytechnic 