READ A POEM
by Gail Bellamy
Spice Rub
Cayenne is the
concentrated flavor
of your own fear
Cilantro is a
soaped-out mouth
once rinsed
Cumin is pencil shavings
wet sidewalks in summer, and
other elusive scents come alive
Chamomile
holds a masked taste,
like disappointment concealed, and
saffron is the flavor
you’d probably taste
if you licked a butterfly.
“Spice Rub” by Gail Bellamy, from
Victual Reality: Food Poems by Gail Ghetia Bellamy. Pudding House Press, 2000. Used with permission of the author.
ABOUT TODAY’S POET
Gail Bellamy served as Cleveland Heights’ Poet Laureate in 2010 and 2011 and Board President of the Poets’ and Writers’ League of Greater Cleveland, 2000 – 2006. In 2010, she was awarded a Creative Workforce Fellowship in Literature from Community Partnership for Arts and Culture, funded by Cuyahoga Arts and Culture. She has a Ph.D. in Creative Writing, and is the author of two poetry collections:
Victual Reality (2000) and
Traveler’s Salad (2009) and four prose collections:
Cleveland Summertime Memories (2013),
Cleveland Christmas Memories (2012),
Cleveland Food Memories (2003) and
Design Spirits (1997). She also co-authored
The Vegetable Storybook (2010) that won a “Best in the U.S.” World Gourmand Cookbook Award.
WRITE A POEM
Open your senses to new sensations.
Choose a specific food (like spice rub or sauerkraut) and write about it using as many of the five senses as possible OR choose a general food (like pasta or soup) and write about its many forms.