F. T. Marinetti (1867 – 1944), ‘Ritratto Olfattivo di una Donna’, translated to English by Caro Verbeek and Han van der Vegt

Olfactory Portrait of a Woman

The iron gate of the city

electricity carbon fire smoke

speed like a mouth drinks

the infinite

green of a spring

morning

I am the bitter tongue of the city

searching for freshness

wandering in the sweet breeze

eyes closed nostrils open

unraveling while walking

the great coil

of most elastic most vibrant

of perfumes odours

AND SHE

this soft

most agile egg shaped

volume of fresh red perfumes

with on top

3 6 nine spirals of scents of vanilla

DO NOT SEE HER SNIFF HER

to the left                  to the right

roses                          violets

roses                          violets

roses                          violets

roses                          violets

roses             etc etc violets

On top of the smell of moist earth

proceeds a warm fresh smell

acute and velvety of her

breasts typical for an Italian woman in her twenties

Speed up pace

run chase

3 wafts of cigarette smell

stop

warmbittersweet smell

of a breathless sigh

from her invisible                      from her invisible

left hand dangles                      right hand dangle

a bouquet of carnations          three bananas musty smell

sharp lillies and alcoholic       of the sweetness

arabesques of romantic          terror of disposing of it

caresses passion                       in the shadow

jealousy etc                                moist

odor of compressed hair

by the sun odor

brother of odor

of hot glowing stones

To the left and to the right globally on the head

moving arches of odor

milky and most fresh

of acacia

breastmilk childhood

Ué! Ué

START OVER