Huang Po and the Dimensions of Love

Cinnamon Sticks

75 C I N N A M O N S T I C K S You asked me years ago, Tell me how you know when to use them? I do not remember what I answered you then, but it is in their aromatic sweetness and their pungence that they can achieve piquancy in a dish. It can be in a simple curry, or in a Bolognese. Stir the cinnamon sticks in with extra-virgin olive oil in a pan over the flame, several dashes of coriander, cumin, garam masala, a whole bulb of crushed garlic, diced sweet Mayan onion, chopped Holland and green bell peppers. Then add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, a pound of uncooked ground beef— the sliced zucchini goes in last—and love, yes, an ingredient of love, over low heat for an hour, although it is the last component in the concoction that neither one of us will ever forget. Seeing you standing at the crosswalk the other day, as I did just happen to drive past, when we both waved and smiled, made me think of your asking me about cinnamon sticks, and how I can finally offer you an answer specific enough, in that I use them the same way I would massage those knots loose in the muscles of your back, then place kisses on each of your bare shoulders. It occurred to me that I use cinnamon sticks just that way, although I did think about another question you would ask me, which was, I want to know what those lights are when I look at you; what are those lights, and where do they come from? 76 After all these years of our being separate from one another, but together being able to enter ever further into the light of what is beatific, that shines from each of our faces, it appears through this radiance we have become aware of that question having answered itself. ...