our first time on the water since
ocean crossing on Isadora with Captain Z.
a small car ferry took us 27 miles
across glassy, flat Lake Erie
to Leamington, Ontario for the Tomato Festival
signs advertised Mexican, Mennonite or Chinese food
walking the town we entered the culture center
oddly, a building entrance that reminded us
of the center in Porto, Portugolo
inside was a small Heinz museum display
honoring the company begun in 1875,
which came here in 1909
ke-tsiap a spicy pickled fish condiment
of 17th century China,
keh-tsiap in Cantonese, may be
the origin of the name,
a lesser and unlikely possibility
like ford naming the Edsel after his son
but Heintz never had a daughter named Ketchup
we went to a place called “Restorante Mexican”
for terrible food, not easy to do,
but the mexicana owner had absolutely no ability to cook
wasn't people friendly, the place was up for sale
we missed that indicator
driving behind a black pickup with
a beige propeller on the back bumper
the center bolt was loose so the two blades hung straight down,
it was like following a well-hung barn animal
we tried a diner that reminded us of John Belushi
and a sketch on Saturday Night Live,
whatever the customers wanted they were talked into
a cheeseburger and a Pepsi,
this diner served only tacos and soft drinks
but very, very good
chicken or beef, soft drink or water
in the park the eve before the festival
a gifted young singer sang through his nose,
what a shame, he had great tone and musical phrasing
and could be truly great with help
the morning of the tomato parade our time was up
for this most interesting change of pace,
boarded the ferry this sunny warm day
and came back tired
Saturday, August 16, 2008
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2 comments:
You do realize, don't you, that you spelled the word "center" INCORRECTLY not less than THREE TIMES in a poem about CANADA, where we, like all SANE PEOPLE, spell it "C-E-N-T-R-E"??????!!111!?/
No, seriously, I love the poem. It captures the sense of flux you get when travelling, of being lost. And thanks for your addition to the Great Squirrel Debate at Scintillator - it's true, squirrels are just like people. Some of them are cool, and some of them are jerks.
Yes, I have known jerk squirrels,
especially the grey (or gray)ones.
depending on which side of the Atlantic is spelling it.
Incidentally, in Norwalk, Ohio all the squirrels are black.
This is strange. This is true.
Okay, so you spell differently, but to your credit, you in Canada drive on the right side of the road. . . most of you. . . usually.
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