This is an I-Heart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.

Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind.

My name is Robert Lamb.

We have a vault episode here for you today.

We're doing some stuff behind the scenes here to catch up a little bit.

So this is going to be the invention of

Cotton Candy Part 1. Off 2. It originally published 130, 2025. Let's jump right in.

Cotton Candy by Edward Hirsch. We walked on the bridge over the Chicago River for what turned out to be the last time, and I ate cotton candy, that sugary air, that sweet blue light spun out of nothingness.

It was just a moment, really, nothing more.

But I remember marveling at the sturdy cables of the bridge that held us up

and threading my fingers through the long and slender fingers of my grandfather,

an old man from the old world who long ago disappeared into the nether regions.

And I remember that eight-year-old boy who had tasted the sweetness of air,

which still clings to my mouth and disappears when I breathe.

Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of IHeart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind.

My name is Robert Lamb.

And I am Joe McCormick, and that was, I said it in the opening, but again, that was the poem Cotton Candy by the American poet Edward Hirsch.

And that's going to be relevant today because we're starting a couple of episodes on the subject of cotton candy and some of its historical predecessors.

But I thought this would be a good poem to feature.

First of all, just because I love it.

It's very plainly stated, but very beautiful, very evocative.

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