Happy Canada Day! In honour of the occasion, Cargo brings you a poem by Alex Walsh about our favourite national coffee shop, Tim Horton’s. Enjoy the fireworks, the patriotism, and the double doubles.
Tim Horton’s
Some of the customers are skinny.
Some of them are not skinny
which is what you would expect
from a doughnut shop.
Thin women in tight cargo pants
sweatshirts and comfortable shoes
buy multiple cream-filled numbers
spending minutes deciding
which topping to pick.
Big guys lumber in knowing
exactly what they want
looking supremely satisfied
to order it.
Students
come in bunches
to spend a pleasant evening
being smarter than everyone
around them.
They don’t realize
that I’m here
hiding in my booth
like a regular doughnut-lover
wishing I had a fork
to eat my leftover dinner
while I write.
Once and a while
a cute-looking guy
stumbles in from the parking lot
wearing some variation
of khaki shorts and a grey t-shirt
not too tight
not too loose
all by himself on this lovely
Friday evening
and orders something simple
glazed or chocolate-covered
no messing around.
I sit at my booth
perfectly happy
until he walked in
and convinced me to be lonely.
"Sprinkled Donut at Tim Horton's " by Rene Schwietzke. Flickr Creative Commons. 2017.