“Ode to Cinnamon,” by Lydia Ganz
October 28, 2019
Cinnamon
O, cinnamon
Soft but sharp
quiet but demanding
You are the tall red spruces
old as time
cutting the sky
and stretching beyond
You are clouds
who knit together
casting a blanket
of gray
swallowing the earth
and casting soft
raindrops
You are the bear
prowling through the forest
lumbering paws slapping the mud
beady black eyes
shifting
Who are you looking for?
How long have you been here?
I watch you now through a window
the security of home
a quilt over my legs
I think how you remind me
of something old
newly found
as the rain runs down the glass.
Lydia Ganz wrote this poem while a sixth grader at TOPS-K8 School, with WITS Writer-in-Residence Laura Gamache. Performed at Seattle Arts & Lectures’ Poetry Series event with Richard Kenney at Seattle Central Community College’s Broadway Performance Hall on October 17, 2019.