published in Aromatica Poetica

In dilution, divine; in concentration, rank. A small molecule of carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen, indole is present in flowers but also in decomposing shrimp, sewage, groin sweat, and the breath of aroused lovers.

It starts as a faint whiff of horse sweat and stables. On Spring nights when I walk home from the subway through our compound in Shanghai, I can map where I am in relation to the jasmine vines surging over the rockeries. Under lantern light, these boulders look as though they are capped with snow. From twenty feet away, the scent is seductive – a mix of barely-ripe banana, paperwhites, and pony muzzle. Ten feet away, it’s intoxicating. Especially if it rained earlier in the day and the night is warm and damp. But at two feet, the fragrance becomes menacing, and as the season wears on, repulsive as a squat toilet…. Read More on Aromatica Poetica