FAMILY TOGETHERNESS: eats

frank pepe's.
yeah.
that's right.
frank pepe's pizzeria napoletana.
the legendary original hottness from new haven.
we've had every good pie in the city,
but we always come back to the best.
uh-huh.

me and mine have a tradition,
and we boost our sauce count to eleven when we all have time to span as a trio.
plain, no grated, half onion.

BOOM!
i've been getting the same classic tomato pie for 23 F*ing years.
that's real.
and for those of y'all who don't know-
the o.g. pizza had no mozz' on top.
it did have a little grated parm, but that's no thang to eliminate.
i'm a classicist, and i took down a medium (they still have 3 sizes, neighbors!)
in record time.
huh?
well, yeah, they include knives and forks. 
because there's no guarantee that some weak-diapery waterbaby
who can get into Yale but can't figure put how to eat a pizza will be among us.
it's a character test, y'feel me?
they give you the option to suck,
and see if you bite.
(we don't.)
we do what we do best,
and what we do best is eat pizza.
*
i hope someday i'll have all hundred kids with me,
eatin' apizza and laughing and joking and spending time
as a team.
there's no way of knowing what the future holds,
so i just hold onto some hope that there's a way to make that happen.
so many people, all overlapping and enjoying each others' company,
on road trips and reunions and pizza parties.
***********
connecticut used to make me so sad.
nowadays, i'm just nostalgic.
i had mamouns falafel.
i visited my sister mary grace at her hair salon, shag.

(we both have mannequin heads on shelves,
but hers is occupational whereas mine is purely decorative)
we had açai bowls, and burritos, and we all hung out with my ma.
good times with the wild warrior coven of witchy b!tches that're my family.
connecticut is alright with me.
it's everywhere else that bums me out these days.
i'm back at work at AMPERSAND TATTOO.
that's good.
i'm back at the Folk Life & Liberty Fortress, in mud and snow and ice and rain.
that's good, too, i guess.
i'm glad i saw my people.
i even saw my dad and my youngest sister:

yeah, i know.
they've lost weight.
*
spanning time, but not wasting it.
that's all i've got;
never quiet, never soft.....