Pizza

In this entirely fictive poem, I have tried to put myself in the shoes of a middle class family teetering on the brink. Whenever it dangerously angles towards a dysfunctional collapse, Pizza comes to the rescue. The protagonist pays unreserved reverence to this Italian dish for keeping them together. But the trained eye should discern a thinly veiled underpinning that it is the smaller moments in life that are to be relished the most.

The only time my family never fought

And the air was never overwrought

With tensions and the house was never riven

With problems, and when its occupants actually tried to enliven

The usual truculent mood, was the occasion

When we ordered Pizza from Domino’s

A quarterly luxury to our family’s humble ration.

 

On these days, mom and dad took a mutual rain check

On unfinished fights which otherwise tantamounted to a train wreck

My mom - Her principal complaints were manifold

Her single-handed management of an unruly household

The chores, which signified her stellar stewardship

But one that lacked support from her spouse

In this battle of one-upmanship.

 

The male half of the equation

Had its fair share of complaints without equivocation

Working day long hours on official demand

And then moonlighting as a frazzled father and husband

Was intensely exhausting

But offered a fitting rebuttal

To my mother’s accosting.

 

However on this day,

Nobody wished to inveigh

Or air our dirty grouse

Sibling to sibling, spouse to spouse

All we would care

For, was this one meal

To savour the gastronomical affair.

 

The pizza delivery boy

Would come bearing the circles of joy

This was the only time when my mom would splice and dice

The pizza sectors equally, neither me nor my brother would attempt to prise

The bigger piece, for there was no bigger piece

The slices tenderly and equally apportioned

With mother’s love and sprinkled with a burst of cheese.

 

As the family sat round the table

And put on a brave front, showing we were able

To ward off the Damocled sword of dysfunctionality

That circled over our heads in perpetuality

Oh you felicificative delicacy from Italy!

We thank you for binding us together

Through these days of golden anomaly.