Let me paint you a picture: it’s 4th period, 2:30 p.m., class is about to let out. Deep within your pocket the Motorola Razr sits primed and determined, because today you’re gonna do it. You’re gonna walk across class, get your crush’s number and invite her to street market.

You and the homies go ALL THE TIME. YOU DO THE SAME SHET EVERY WEEK. Meet at Kristo Rai, walk to Street, walk around Street never buy shet, walk to McDonald’s cuz someone wants fries, walks back to Street, pick up your friend who came late, buy pearl shake, go to AMP

BUT THIS WEEK BRO THIS WEEK ITS GONNA BE DIFFERENT. Your crush is coming. Number boom in your Rarz boom you type that thing in and close the phone put in your back pocket and strut bro. ‘Stumbe!

In the build up to the date you text her. “Hey :)” she responds “heyyy :)” THREE Ys BRO Tres! Tres na Y. Things are going well. You let her know you’ll pick her up. She tells you she lives deep in the heart of Kagman 3. Leche lilaputa. Fawken shet ok. You don’t text her that tho

This is the whole reason I started this thread: when you take her to Street, the night goes exactly how it always goes. BUT tonight you don’t buy just pearl shake. Your fam gave you a lil bit of cash. With your 5 dolla, you gon make someone holla.

You head to Poons and buy chow. And the mama sang behind the counter HOOKS IT THE FUCK UP. Damn that’s a lot of fried rice. Good thing I took a Chamorro grel bro. We both need this. Noodles, beef broccoli, squid, another dish, and the most important order:

MOTHAFUCKIN. SWEET. AND. FUCKEN. SOUR. MOTHAFUCKEN. PORK. DIABLO. God damn that shet was mannge’. Bro. Few things in life are consistent. Few things in life live up to hype. This pork, was a grail.

I’m talking, when fresh, it retained some crunchiness under all that delicious sauce. And the flavor of the tomato base, melted into the umami of pork, and it hit all the right notes of sweet without being overpowering, and when you had it with the rice?! Fawk q boi.

And even when it wasn’t fresh it just meant all those flavors had time to get even more flavorful. My God. It was a masterpiece.

So look. I can’t make you experience the nostalgia I have when thinking about Poons. Even if a date you bring to Street doesn’t end in anything you hoped for, Street Market was still an integral part of growing up in Saipan. It wasn’t truly THAT much fun.

You were just a puyitos, out with your puyitos friends, doing puyitos shet. But the experience of Street is something unifying and common. Makes us all that much more similar to each other. And what’s more, we all knew the call of the 5 dowla 6 choi yo. It reached us all.

That food was delicious, affordable, and you could count on it being there (until it wasn’t). It’s like our childhood in that regard. There, existing and yet fleeting at the same time. I miss both my childhood and Poons. When I miss Poons, I miss my childhood.