Why this blog name--"Fragrant as Cloves?"

"Fragrant as cloves" is a line taken from my poem, "Mustard Seed," which was written in memory of Maria, my 5-year old little sister. Hers was the first funeral I attended when I was 11 years old, my first experience of the permanence of death. She sits in a little silver frame on my dresser, still a little girl of five. The poem was published in an anthology entitled, "Yellow as Turmeric, Fragrant as Cloves," (Deep Bowl Press, 2008) where the editor, Anne Marie Fowler, also used Maria's poem to title the book.