Sunday, April 16, 2023

Jubilate Civitas

 

by Patrick Phillips

I will consider a slice of pizza.

For rare among pleasures in Gotham, it is both
     exquisite and blessedly cheap.

For its warmth is embracing, its smell the
     quintessence of hope.

For it can be found in all boroughs, every few blocks,
     yet never two slices the same.

For its makers speak many tongues.

For dusting the counter with cornmeal and flour,
     without looking down, they pummel and roll out
     the dough.

For they heap out the still-steaming sauce and, with a
     touch of the ladle, paint it in rings like a bull’s-eye,
     or a tree-stump, or a thumb.

For they smile at each other’s jokes, grasping great
     handfuls of cheese.

For wiping both hands on an apron, they nod at the
     phrase “not too hot,” and start one of a hundred
     little clocks in their heads.

For their corded forearms reach deep in the oven with
     a long-handled paddle, giving each pie, with a flick,
     its requisite spin.

For heat bubbles and blisters and browns the
     miraculous crust.

For even in the tiniest shop you can find every style:
     sagging with mushrooms and bacon, broccoli and
     pineapple, chicken, and sausage, and onion.

For time passes slowly awaiting a slice, and reminds us
     how sweet it is to be alive at this moment on earth.

For it slides to a stop in a little city of shakers, where
     with pepper and oregano, garlic and parmesan, we
     citizens make it our own.

For you can fold it in half like a taco and eat it while
     standing or driving, or walking and working your
     phone.

For I have seen the bearded young men of Brooklyn
     sit upright to eat it, riding bicycles through
     redlights, at midnight, in the rain.

For with each bite the paper plate grows more
     translucent with grease, till it glows like stained
     glass over the trash can.

For it has nourished our children and soothed many
     sorrows.

For in a time of deceit it is honest and upright,
     steadfast and good—beloved and modest and
     known.

For its commerce makes nobody rich and nobody
     poor.

For that, to us, it is home.

From the book Song of the Closing Doors



No comments:

Post a Comment