The Cinnamon Peeler
Michael Ondaatje first published “The Cinnamon
Peeler” in 1982 as part of his book Running in the
Family. “The Cinnamon Peeler” appeared later in
Ondaatje’s collection Secular Love. As most crit-
ics note, this collection was influenced heavily by
events in Ondaatje’s life, namely his 1979 separa-
tion from his wife, Kim Jones, and his subsequent
affair with another woman, Linda Spalding. The
book is arranged into four different sections, which
collectively detail the pain of Ondaatje’s breakup
and his path through despair to newfound love.
“The Cinnamon Peeler” is located in the fourth and
final section, “Skin Boat,” and is one of the poems
that glorifies love. In the poem, the speaker gives
a very sensual description of his wife and their
courtship, using the exotic qualities of cinnamon,
especially its potent scent, to underscore his love
and desire. Ondaatje’s use of cinnamon, a plant
found in his native Sri Lanka, indicates his desire
to focus on his former homeland. Ondaatje, who
has been a Canadian citizen since he was a teen-
ager, often includes discussions of Sri Lanka in his
works. Although critics responded favorably to the
poems in Secular Love, this response pales in com-
parison to the critical and popular response that
Ondaatje received for his third novel, The English
Patient(1992), which was adapted into a block-
buster film in 1996. A copy of the poem can be
found in The Cinnamon Peeler: Selected Poems,
which was published in paperback by Vintage In-
ternational in 1997.Michael Ondaatje
1982
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