Pizza

by Chea Cliatt

When I was a boy,

A young thing

Who did not know any better,

My cousin would tell me,

If you eat so much pizza,

You’re going to explode.

And as I would watch him,

Shove slice after slice

Down his throat noisily,

I imagined an atom bomb

Like looney tunes

Fill the sky blood orange.

When I was older,

Still a boy but

Taking college courses,

I would invite girls over

To drink boxed wine

And eat cheese pizza.

We would watch

Kurosawa films

In the dark, and I

Tried to forget the bomb

And think only

Of pizza.