There was a time
when I would go questing
out on the streets of the City
for a lobster tail
and the world would have no knowledge
of what I sought.

Those were frustrating days.

On a bicycle adventure
aimlessly riding around Staten Island,
I found Bruno’s Bakery
and I bought a flakey cream-filled construction
with powdered sugar that stuck
to my sweaty shirt as the cream and crust
would enter me as quickly as I could swallow.

It was a lobster tail
and I was in love.
I needed more of this thing
but I couldn’t bike out to the Island
on the regular
so I looked for other bakeries
that could serve me the stuff that I craved.

I was not easily satisfied.

No one knew what I was talking about
when I named the delicacy.
“Lobster tail? This is a bakery!”
There was no other name for the thing.
It looks a little like the triangular sfogliatelle
which you can find at most Italian bakeries
but the lobster tail doesn’t appear all the time
– even at the Italian spots.

I kept looking.
I kept failing.
It turns out the tail wasn’t too popular,
so the places that did make it
made it on weekends alone when more people would buy.

I could find it at special locations
like Veniero’s and a couple of smaller places
in Little Italy.
It took a lot to get me the goods.
My sweet spot could eventually be found
but it still took some work
for me to get my fill.