Friday, July 17, 2009

Mexican food

Mexican food at a roadside diner
with a chic-latin name in Somewhere’sville, Ohio
the stucco outside painted red and blue, looks right
with food prepared by Mexicans
from ingredients,
though available locally,
were probably frozen and trucked
across long American highways from anywhere

pleasant low volume music was authentic
as I imagine were the workers immigration cards
I ordered three enchiladas stuffed with
some kind of white cheese - gooey
in a sauce once based on tomatoes
currently based on grease and memories
of how it could be somewhere
the beans and rice were good, so was the coffee
the cost reasonable, the food wasn’t terrible,
it also had precious little to do with Mexico
hey, you want good Mexican food
better go to California

1 comment:

Julie said...

I meant to tell you I love this one, too. Somewhere'sville, Ohio! Perfect. I'll always have a fond spot in the heart for Ohio.

When I lived there, one of my co-workers used to gripe about how we didn't have authentic Mexican food in Ohio. Some of his recipes didn't appeal to me, but I'm sure he felt the same way about mine. He would love this poem, too.

Your descriptions are great. Red and blue stucco, etc.