Tuesday, August 9, 2022

Ivar's



image from pinterest.com 

Ivar’s


“Sex in your seventies is still great, and it

certainly beats fish & chips”.--Paul Daniels


On Pier 54,.

at Seattle’s waterfront,

sit Ivar’s Fish Bar;

a local landmark & treasure.


I went there

for the first time

in the summer of 1951,

when I was seven.


Elliott Bay

batters at it’s back door.

The smell of kelp, 

wet pier timber

and barnacles

dances in the salt air.


The crowd gathers

in front of the wide high counter,

manned by four manic employees.

The menu is printed huge

on the back wall.


You must yell out your order,

as one of them repeats it

and writes it down.

Then you fade back and linger,

waiting for your food.


The Alaskan cod and halibut

is always fresh and tasty.

The clam chowder

is the best I’ve ever had,

The fries are golden & perfect,

and the tarter sauce is beyond compare.


You dine

in an outdoor covered area,

that’s heated in the windy winter.

Large flocks of sea gulls hover,

begging for a handout.

You would throw a french fry,

or a bit of fish.

into the air,

and there was always

a gull there to catch it.


It was adjacent

to  the Seattle main Ferry Docks,

and great Super Ferries,

came and went.

emptying their cars

and boarding others

beneath blasts from its horn.


A meal at Ivar’s

was always spectacle,

a major event. 

Ivar, the owner,

was quite the character,

and he did all the TV commercials

for the restaurant, reminding me of Burl Ives.

Their motto is “Keep Clam”.

I even have a bobble-head doll of him.



Glenn Buttkus


Posted over at d'Verse Poet's Pub

10 comments:

Merril D. Smith said...

Oh this sounds great, Glenn. I'm craving that food now. Seafood in these types of places is always the best.

rogblog666 said...

sounds like a great place to eat

Ron. Lavalette said...

Yum.

Nitin said...

A wonderful poem. You brought the place to life. I'd like to eat seafood in a place like that.

Callsign Santa said...

Unique, rollicking style, with such a clever use of the quote in the beginning, with the verse cleaving a path in not quite that direction, but in fact that direction, that fish can be so much more...and was...so much mood, feeling in your lines, cluttered with all that was good then...

robkistner said...

I can attest — great food! Wonderful poem Glenn. Sparkles with joy — loved it my friend. I like when you light up brother… 🙂✌🏼❤️

Jane Dougherty said...

If you haven't eaten fish and chips out of newspaper in the West Riding of Yorkshire, you haven't lived.

Dwight L. Roth said...

After your description of the chaos of ordering food, your last lines made me smile, "Keep Calm!" Very well done. you took me there.

paeansunplugged said...

Nothing to beat seafood! Love how you have captured the energy of this place, Glenn!

seanatbogie said...

What a great and poetic tribute! I really felt your pleasure at eating there and revisiting the memories. Don’t you just wish some things could last forever?