RHYME for ZAKO’S DELI

Vancouver BC

And the owner a gem, Salah Saleh,

from Libya via Montreal

sells, (irony discrete),

the best kosher pickles and fresh smoked meat,

a whole continent west of the distant east.

His sandwiches compare

favourably

to the best warm love affair:

Layer upon layer of paper thin flavour

resting there on a soft bed of light rye bread,

HOT,

with fiery mustard and passionate smoke,

yet silent as a sheaf of exceptional poems

by a Montreal poet who never wrote.

And in the street outside,

commerce comes, and buses go by,

and rain falls and falls from a dark lidded sky,

cars hurtle and lurch and beggars cry

while Salah Saleh, cooks & creates

a mighty sandwich and steamy poutine

to warm the hearts of the cold & lean,

calming our days in this hurried dream,

with a perfect reason to savour and taste,

to stay our pace and slow our haste,

a warm oasis in our day, close but far away

from the rushing dance of commerce

and frenzy of business on busy Broadway.

Timothy Shay 30 . XI . 2010