The Costa Wasta

You're welcome to the Costa Wasta,
where brown noses press in greetings;
whirls of white cede salutations
no hesitations save for pasta
in Khaleej business dinner meetings.

Be taken by the Costa Wasta
when boiling gahwa slips from vessels;
a thick and heady black decoction
-no honour auction-though it costs you
more than heyyl and grinding pestles.

Speak softly round the Costa Wasta,
for shuttled words of weft and weaving
are camouflaged in silk relations;
no altercations with impostors,
just sheesha smoking in the evening.

Be watchful on the Costa Wasta,
as backroom contracts bloom sub rosa,
and secret glances can occasion
some quick evasion, soon glossed over;
but unforgiving as a Tosa.

Footnotes:
Costa Wasta - The Nepotism Coast - Wasta is Arabic for "influence".
Khaleej - The Arabian/Persian Gulf (lit: "gulf")
Gahwa - Arabic coffee or qaHwa (as pronounced in the Gulf)
Heyyl - cardomom - used to perfume and flavour Arabic coffee.
Sheesha - the hubbly-bubbly or hookah pipe.
Tosa - Japanese breed of fighting dog much favoured in the UAE

(the "next" paddle will take you to another poem by this author)