memoir poems

“The scent of cinnamon is like a hug for your senses, wrapping you in comfort and nostalgia.” – Unknown

What could be more enticing than the sweet spicy aroma of cinnamon wafting from the kitchen? It carries the promise of something scrumptious in the oven: apple pie? gingerbread? snickerdoodles, bread pudding?

Mmmmmmmm! Warm and woodsy cinnamon feels cozy and comforting. It speaks of Saturday morning cinnamon toast, late summer peach cobblers, hot mulled cider, nutty streusels and autumn’s molasses cookies. It’s snappy cinnamon tea and hot chocolate with whipped cream. Moreover, cinnamon is the smell of Christmas.

Good aromas transcend time and space by not only stimulating the appetite, but conjuring up satisfying, sensory-rich food memories. We thank Nebraska poet Judy Lorenzen for permission to share her poignant poem and for commenting on what inspired it.

CINNAMON
by Judy Lorenzen

with a line from William Butler Yeats

Where goes the memory wandering
but to the house of my childhood
to smell the sweet aroma
of Mother's baking goods.
Where her kneading hands are covered
in butter or in flour
where the crimson spice's fragrance
hangs in the air for hours.
And there is nothing better
than in her presence here,
to see her face, feel her embrace,
I feel the welling tear.
The loaves of bread and rolls dark red,
were love that served the child,
where time is gone and memory lives
my mind rests for a while.
I didn't know how fast time passed,
holding her cinnamon-scented hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than I could understand.

~ posted by permission of the author, copyright © 2024 Judy Lorenzen. All rights reserved.

*Cinnamon-Streusel Coffee Cake via King Arthur Flour.*

NOTE FROM JUDY:

“I bought a cinnamon-scented candle the other day. After I opened the lid to take in the perfume, my mind went straight back to my childhood. My mother was such a wonderful mother, a natural teacher who was always teaching my six sisters and me about the flowers, night skies, stars, constellations, the birds and their songs—everything.

She taught my sisters and me to read before we went to school, using the King James Bible. She had memorized a lot of poetry in her childhood, and sometimes, these long, beautiful poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, W. B. Yeats, Robert Frost or John Neihardt, among others, would come pouring out of her. I’d watch her face glow as she quoted them and listen to the music in the poetry. I was mesmerized by her and all of her abilities—we all were. We just never stopped learning from that wonderful woman.

*l to r: Jamey, Joy, Mom, Judy, Jonna & Jacki (Jo & Jill not pictured).*

Because there were seven of us girls, she baked a lot, and we all loved those days. The cinnamon smell lingered around the house all day. When I walked home from Engleman Elementary on baking days, I could smell the cinnamon on the winds as I got closer to home, and I knew what was waiting inside those doors. Such sweet memories!

I write memoir poetry, and many times, a smell, a song, or a thought triggers a poem. The cinnamon candle made me think about how much I miss my mother and her sweetness, and I remembered that line from Yeats’s poem ‘The Stolen Child’ that I loved so much. I thought about how true it was that I didn’t understand then that the world was so full of weeping. I knew I had to end my poem with that line—she loved that poem.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Judy Lorenzen is a poet and writer who holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Nebraska at Kearney and a PhD in Rhetoric and Composition from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her work appears in journals, anthologies, newspapers, magazines, and on calendars and websites.

Lovely and talented Irene Latham is hosting the Roundup at Live Your Poem. Be sure to check out the full menu of poetic goodness being served up around the blogosphere this week. Enjoy your weekend!