Abyssinian buffet

By Olaniyi Olayemi Luke

Foods lined in an assembly

as long as the Great Wall

attract veggies and meatatarians

of different gastronomical appeal

in the lukewarm weather of Addis Ababa.

Some had helpings from every food

building mointains on ceramics.

The faddy foodies cause a traffic

as they ponder their choices

from Injera to some diminutive specie of Rice.

The corn cooked here in the Horn of Africa

teaches the convoluted phonology

of Amharic as the first-timer

masticates their horrors in an unrhythmic chewing.

Sour is sweet

and piquancy is blandness

in the cuisine of Addis Ababa.

You lash on the hopes

of when you get back home

like a prodigal son

to taste familiar flavours.

I guess my tastebuds

are too old to learn the new tricks

of an Abyssinian buffet.