Flower Power

'To be overcome by the fragrance of flowers is a delectable form of defeat'- Beverly Nichols.

I think my persona for the playhouse party this weekend will smell like a church when the flowers haven't been change for a week, dankness and organic decay, heavy incense... Having a moment of divine inspiration derived from the Nick The Stripper film clip, David Byrne's giant suit in the Stop Making Sense film, and a play I once saw by Jean Genet. Want to carry fleshy blooms, chrysanthemum or maybe jonquils? Want them juicy between my fingers or underneath my feet, carpet, fistful, something to hold onto or walk upon, or maybe to flay myself with? Flowergoo elixers, pressed and pretty.

When I was small I would play with my cousin in my grandparent's backyard, making perfume by rubbing our wrists with camellias. I think there was a fountain/birdbath there, and a strange potted plant that grew some kind of shiny berries, and big frangipani trees and once I found a real knucklebone on the ground by the garage. There was also a bird of paradise by the back steps, and with the botanical name starting with 'regina' I thought it must somehow related to my aunt of the same name. She does look rather similar, though not quite as colourful.