What LA and NYC just don’t understand
A lot of people just don’t get it
I hear the front door open
And the footsteps above me
Moving closer
Closer to ecstasy
Keys drop on the dining room table
And then an “I’m home”
Illuminates the dark staircase which creaks under my father’s feet
For he not only carries the weight of a brutal work day counseling drug addicts
But more importantly…
He carries the weight of a Pete’s #2 Sausage Pizza
If I was a dog
My tail would be waggin’ like crazy right now!
I’ve already prepared for the sacrifice
The towel laid out on the wooden coffee table
The glasses hangin’ out in the freezer
filled with ice
The Coke waiting on the table
The salt and red pepper
Standing at attention
Ready for my father
My father who always makes due with what we have
It’s not always a lot but it’s more than enough
The pizza is placed perfectly on the altar
There is no pizza box
Only the outer paper
Stapled to itself
Creating a small dome
Holding in the flavor and the heat
Emanating from the…
The paper’s ripped open
Faster than my dad can say
“Enough with the poetry
Let’s eat!”
And so we do
Picking up the perfect
Squares of thin-crust pizza
Making sure to leave the corner pieces for mom
My mom who is still working her job at Wright College
To make sure I always get what I want
The ten speed bike
The dual cassette boombox
The skateboard
Yes, they’re always the generic Zayre’s version
But I still get what I want
The sauce is rich
Filled with spices that I wish
The rest of the country understood
The cheese perfectly browned
Dripping onto the cardboard
The sausage in large homemade chunks
The house is now filled with the smell of pizza
Causing my sister to come running down from her room
“Why didn’t you tell me it was here???”
Sorry.
I grab 3 or 4 pieces before my dad eats them
And now
All these years later
I bite in and immediately
Remember riding my ten speed down Austin Avenue as fast as I can
My book bag pulling on my shoulders
From the weight of the library books
Which doesn’t matter because pizza awaits me at home
I remember re-heated squares on hot summer Saturdays
Hiding in the basement watching my vast assortment of VHS dubbed movies
My dad calling for me to move the sprinkler
To the other side of the sidewalk
To water our small patch of grass
I remember playing pinners against the carpet store next door
making the game-winning catch of the World Series
Only to be interrupted by the Cosby Show and my father was already on his third piece!
I remember grabbin’ cheese pieces on a Friday night during Lent
Wrapping them in a paper towel
Running to catch the 76 West towards Harlem Avenue
Where I make the transfer north
To see my friends outside of Rolling Stone Records
To do what exactly?
No one ever really knew
But it had something to do with girls
Alll I know is that I’m home
I bite in and I remember Chicago
The city where
I had my first major crush on Gina Derango in 4th Grade
I first snuck into a Rated R movie with friends in 5th Grade
I got into my first fight with Tony Svanicini in 6th Grade
I saw Van Halen for the first time with my dad in 7th Grade
I had my first job at Wright College in 8th Grade
I kissed a girl (I mean, like a REAL kiss) for the first time in 9th Grade
I played LeComte de Guiche in Cyrano de Bergerac for the first time in 10th Grade
I drove a car for the first time listening to “The End of the Innocence” in 11th Grade
I experienced love for the first time in 12th Grade
Chicago my home town
the city I once knew
Once grew up in
I bite in and I remember a time when financial debt and back pain were not friends of mine
I remember a time when my dad still lived in that house
When my mom was still alive
and my sister was still my “li’l sister”
I miss that moment
It was so much easier
But I know that change isn’t a bad thing
And I should be honest with myself
I don’t think it was actually easier back then
Just smaller
Now my sister is the mom of my new favorite nephew
My dad lives on the west coast in driving distance
And my feelings for my mom are no longer filled with annoyance but now only love
But one thing that hasn’t changed
As soon as I arrive home for the holidays
I order a pizza on the way back from the airport
Say hello to the owner
Drive slowly with the pizza in the back seat
Walk into my sister’s house
Put on a movie, maybe “The Breakfast Club”
And I dive in.