After the woman becomes the cinnamon peeler’s wife, the unshakable smell becomes a bold and public mark of their love: “I am the cinnamon / peeler’s wife. I could hardly glance at you before marriage never touch you –your keen nosed mother, your rough brothers. When we swam once I touched you in the water and our bodies remained free, you could hold me and be blind of smell. Michael Ondaatje’s selected poems, The Cinnamon Peeler, brings together poems written between 1963 and 1990, including work from his most recent collection, Secular Love.These poems bear witness to the extraordinary gifts that have won high praise for this truly original poet and novelist. The Cinnamon Peeler.

The global price for the commodity has steadily increased since 2004, rising from $4 to $12 a kilo. The Cinnamon Peeler Director: … Michael Ondaatje's reading of his poem The Cinnamon Peeler is accompanied by the movement of two dancers.

Sri Lanka's peeler shortfall coincides with a propitious time for the local cinnamon trade. The cinnamon peeler’s life is a simple one. as the cinnamon peeler's wife.

The sound of Michael Ondaatje's "The Cinnamon Peeler" is as smothering as the spicy scent he writes about. With inflection that ebbs and flows, the speaker likens the powerful smell of freshly ground cinnamon to an inextinguishable sexual desire for his wife. I buried my hands in saffron, disguised them over smoking tar, helped the honey gatherers… When we swam once I touched you in the water and our bodies remained free, you could hold me and be blind of smell. Your breasts and shoulders would reek You could never walk through markets without the profession of my fingers floating over you. If I were a cinnamon peeler I would ride your bed And leave the yellow bark dust On your pillow.

as the cinnamon peeler’s wife. Having his wife and his smell "known amongst strangers" is a sign of… I could hardly glance at you before marriage never touch you--your keen nosed mother, your rough brothers. They make their living from the plant that grows freely here ““ their island, Kurundu Doowa, is named for it: “Cinnamon Island” . About The Cinnamon Peeler. Vidurasena Mama (meaning “uncle” ) and his family are the only inhabitants of this small island in the Madu Ganga, Sri Lanka’s second largest wetland reserve.