The Long Deployment by Jehanne Dubrow

For weeks, I breathe his body in the sheet
     and pillow. I lift a blanket to my face.
There’s bitter incense paired with something sweet, 
     like sandalwood left sitting in the heat	
or cardamom rubbed on a piece of lace.

     For weeks I breathe his body.  In the sheet
I smell anise, the musk that we secrete
     with longing, leather and moss. I find a trace  
of bitter incense paired with something sweet.

     Am I imagining the wet scent of peat	
and cedar, oud, impossible to erase?
     For weeks, I breathe his body in the sheet—
crushed pepper—although perhaps discreet,
     difficult for someone else to place.

There’s bitter incense paired with something sweet. 
     With each deployment I become an aesthete
of smoke and oak. Patchouli fills the space
     for weeks. I breathe his body in the sheet	
until he starts to fade, made incomplete,
     a bottle almost empty in its case.

There’s bitter incense paired with something sweet. 
     And then he’s gone. Not even the conceit
of him remains, not the resinous base.	
     For weeks, I breathed his body in the sheet.	
He was bitter incense paired with something sweet.  

     With each deployment I become an aesthete
of smoke and oak. Patchouli fills the space
     for weeks. I breathe his body in the sheet	
until he starts to fade, made incomplete,
     a bottle almost empty in its case.

There’s bitter incense paired with something sweet. 
     And then he’s gone. Not even the conceit
of him remains, not the resinous base.	
     For weeks, I breathed his body in the sheet.	
He was bitter incense paired with something sweet.

The Long Deployment

Music Studio, covering any genre, any kind of artist.

The Long Deployment

Cú Ste