From “Jasmin et Cigarette” by Ava Nathaniel Winter

From "Jasmine et Cigarette"
by Ava Nathaniel Winter

Looking over your shoulder as a scalpel
separates embalmed skin from fascia and nerve,
it occurs to me: all we are is smeared out there on the road.

I love imagery Ava Nathaniel Winter uses in her poem, the way she juxtaposes flashes of beauty with the grotesque. Even the title, “Jasmine et Cigarette”—although, an actual fragrance—plays into this juxtaposition. Even her use of “indolic” stands out. In the world of perfumes, indole is “a naturally-occurring chemical, found in many essential oils”¹ including jasmine. While in the medical world, which Winter references multiple times, indolic is associated with decay.²

Like several other poems, I had a hard time choosing what part I wanted to quote. As someone from Texas, I know people measure distance by time and football fields, but I never thought to count roadkill to determine how far I am from someone.

If you want to read the poem in its entirety, you can find it on Poets.org, or purchase her collection, Transgenesis.

1. “Indole – the Perfume Society.” The Perfume Society, perfumesociety.org/ingredients-post/indole/. Accessed 26 Apr. 2026. ↩︎
2. “Indolic, Adj., Sense 1.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, December 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/6191619406. ↩︎