restaurants near me bad

in any way real or imagined, in no way desired nor perceived
i'm not looking for something horrible or dirty
something pungent and purple and prescient
something faster than a fire at the phone

that curiosity, in itself, could be anything
could be whenever and however we want, or don't
not that it's about what we don't want
- but it is, because it isn't, because we don't, because we do

the seinfeldian sallow of whitefish and wallowing
and twenty-five dollars for what should be fifteen
what both and any, none and neither have taught us
and it's only opposites, proposites, stop'n'sits all

i wanted olives, mostly, salty-briny
the shiny side to something fast and casual
the taste it leaves in your mouth
and crinkling, oniony parchment paper

i wanted to be a bagel, bright with a hole in it
as if i didn't just say, bite with a whole on it
i wanted to have everything on me and in me
i wanted it all and i wanted it to be worth it,

so worth it

bite marks on the flesh of a smoked side of salmon
something mushy-delicious that shouldn't be so good
something sandwiched between pickles, that should
be slimy, be salinity, be salubrious and sly

and bad restaurants have as much a right to exist as any of us
impossibly cheap, or incomprehensibly expensive
a hole in the wall that you can see through, for chips and salsa

and i still don't know what it is about restaurants
maybe butter and industrialism or the lack thereof
i don't always just want to eat because i paid for it

maybe it's just the fight to be fresh
in a stale and stagnating world
which tries to better itself, but can't
the restaurant nearest me is bad

not to pontificate on the meaning of bad
if the atmosphere is dull or heatless
if the ambiance is severe or achill
but we make a rating of enjoyment

i want to go out, to drive out, to live out, to eat
to eat out and tuck in and blanket myself in bliss
the trials and tribulations of one spendy bear

and it's all so frivolous, such madness, such fra diavolo
as if i ever met a shrimp i really did like, such as
such as myself, my sharp-cheddar self, my heart on a shelf

okay. show me restaurants near me ridiculous