the menu in my heart is all wrong

my stare
goes from the plate
to the dainty language on the menu Golden Baskets, a tiny quintet
of brittle pastry shells . . . 
then back to my plate,

and I wonder what my spice-obsessed
hawker-stall friends in Bangkok would think
of defrosted veggies baked in cardboard-stiff pastry cups
on the Danforth, limits of Greektown,
middle of a snowstorm . . . 

Published in TOK: Writing the New Toronto, Book 5. Purchase the book to read the full piece.

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Toronto locations referenced in this piece

“I wonder what my spice-obsessed hawker-stall friends in Bangkok would think of defrosted veggies baked in cardboard-stiff pastry cups on the Danforth, limits of Greektown, middle of a snowstorm . . . ” —Danforth