The Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica

Nearly every line of “The Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica” speaks to the loss of home. This store and its proprietor are emblems of places that the immigrant patrons knew and loved in their youth. As Cofer implies, they may never return to their homes as they knew them, which makes pilgrimages to the deli that much more necessary. This poem meditates on difficulties of displacement and the hope of new community in one’s adopted home.

Cofer draws attention to this theme through two uses of the word lost. The name of “the stale candy of everyone’s childhood” (Line 28) comes to patrons like “lost lovers” (Line 27). They experience palpable heartache when confronted with symbols of the past. The poet, as well as the deli owner, perceives this heartache through the words and actions of customers.

When referencing the deli’s ham and cheese sandwich, Cofer adds that “it would not satisfy / the hunger of the fragile old man lost in the folds / of his winter coat” (Lines 32-34). This image accentuates the vulnerability of an immigrant who likely spent his childhood in a warmer climate where he didn’t need a winter coat. He hungers not only for the store’s food but for the lost land it represents.