Anna Couani #32 Cyril’s (nod to Robert Verdon #33)

once exotic Cyril’s is closed

once it was hard to find olives
now shops have kale
not to mention Asian vegetables

we used to see
Cyril down in Paddy’s market
on Saturday mornings
chatting with the Perkal brothers
the old boot makers
also now dead

turns out he was Czech
and not Jewish

olives was one thing
I remember my first dill cucumber
from a deli in The Cross

then there were roll mops
long before everyone
was eating sashimi
and Tony’s deli
in Glebe
and Tony more uptight
than our stereotypes of Italians
always too neat
too clean
although that’s a good thing
in a food providore

and cranky
like Cyril