Madeleine Lee (b. 1962)
SELECTED POEMS
an excerpt from five spice
1 coriander
i europe
a small round seed stowed away
in the mycenaean battleship
as the soldiers readied themselves
for the rout of troyon land it hid in the store
of the army cook as fires rage
on the battlefield and on his stovethe victors left braying
the seed left fallow
finding home on alien earth
in south west turkey
a taste of asiaii asia
the new seeds in jute sacks piled on caravans
of turkish merchants
traversed the steppe crossed the himalaya
ending up in countless curries
2 cinnamon
a cappuccino in a japanese café
insists on the accoutrement
of a foil-wrapped stick of cinnamon bark
in place of a teaspoon
as if the mere dip and stir
would impart further headiness
of sweet bark in the hedonistic brewa sticky bun is so named
because if you cook cinnamon with brown sugar
and applied it on a regular swirling bun
it would cause it to become quite stuck
to your saturday morning hands
3 cumin
i
from ancient sumeria the gamun
dispersed throughout syria and persia
and found its way into biblical aftertaste
in isaiah old and matthew new
the romans rejecting the teaching
imbibed the pleasures of the tummy calming seeds
if only there was such a simple tasteful solution today
by Madeleine Lee
from flinging the triplets (2015)
