[Editor's Note: This is the fifth of 10 current Canadian 'blockbuster poems' running each Friday in The Tyee. Find out about the idea of the series and read the previous poems here]

From the Chef

By Joe Rosenblatt

Enticed by meaty aromas

passersby wander deep inside

the labyrinth of an eatery

spangled with sweet-scented glands

only to fly through a trap door

into a pool of digestive water

while other famished guests

dreaming of supernatural cuisine

climb down a stairwell of pointy hairs

to discover that their chef

is a reclusive stomach

who bathes his diners

in a tub of singing enzymes