OLYMPIA

Olympia is the Greek mount

sanctuary

where the god Zeus lived

in whose honour held

their PanHellenic games sport

every four years

from 776 BCE to 393 CE.

But the Olympia, in Tripoli

Was ice cream

A caffee-bar-icecream parlor

I could buy yogurt

I could buy a frappe

Buy ice cream cone or cup

most delicious vanilla

or chocolate

No preservative and no additives

Olympia was a stop

on Corso Sicilia

Before piazza

Toward the castle

High ceiling

Big tall serranda doors that rolled up

the place would look as with no walls

With wooden table a slim chairs

Gave the order at the high

Black glossy counter

And tall BARstools, at times we sat

Other times we stopped over

just for a prepack small paper cup

and scooped with a small

paletta

flat wooden spoon

slowly savoring all that delight

Unless we had a gara “challenge”

of who would finish first

many times would be me

With my friends

At the Olympia

Luciana Meilak

Dad was a baker

Ernesto Rocca

dad had a toy store

and Mohamed

a Muslim in the Italian school