emily hyland
DEAR PIZZA EATERS
flour all over the floorboards
barefoot in my kitchen apron
tied in a bow, I’m talking pizza
enliven igniting yeast to aerate dough
reach into deep waters of sauce
wrung from bloodred-hearted tomatoes
welcome to the gluten and thick thighs
glory of caramelized pizza-crust perimeters
pan after pan here in Pizzaland, welcome
to the cake of papier-mâché dough under nails
wet marriage of flour to your hands
geometry of pepperonis polka-dotted
over roadmap of sauce stripes
over cheese in the landscape of nostalgia
hearken back to pizza night in childhood
to slumber parties in the basement
legs tucked into a sleeping bag on carpet
tangled in Nintendo wires and ghost stories
as cheese pulled from slices in a shared box
welcome to the taste of memory
your memory, my memory
dorm-room desk, cold pizza for breakfast
hungover but nothing sweeter
knead of emotion, collective unconscious
ravenous and soothed in the calm crust
warm baked aromatics from a hearth
welcome to the breakup balm of catharsis
party-pleasing noshes to that cocktail shake and sip
your lips hot from pickled chilies cooling
with the salve of alcohol frosted in a shaker
welcome to room for dessert
Mom-made blondies, chocolate creme pie
the way Aunt Sandy prepared it, thick
whipped cream on top crest of a happy wave
the smear of chocolate around a mouth
your child beside you on a stepstool
mixing and mixing flour that wafts
into unexpected confetti as they measure
and when the kiddos laugh I think pizza
when we are here in the kitchen with spirit
when we are families who bake
with multigenerational spatulas
and ladles passed from parent to parent
the one here white-handled with 70s flowers
varying gradients of faded orange
painting my penciled grip
so that my mother is making pizza with me too
and my grandma and the little one with pigtails
not quite here yet, barefooted and reveling, and you
Emily Hyland’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Apple Valley Review, Apricity Magazine, armarolla, Belle Ombre, Belletrist Magazine, The Brooklyn Review, The Conglomerate, Free State Review, Maryland Literary Review, Meadow, Midwest Quarterly, Mount Hope Magazine, Neologism Poetry Journal, Open: Journal of Art & Letters, Oxidant|Engine, Palette Poetry, Perceptions Magazine, RAW Journal of Arts, Sixfold, Stirring: A Literary Collection, Sweet Tree Review, The Virginia Normal, Visitant Lit, Wild Roof Journal, and Stretching Panties. A restauranteur and English professor from New York City, she received her MFA in poetry and her MA in English education from Brooklyn College. Her cookbook, Emily: The Cookbook, was published by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, in 2018. She is a member of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers and studies writing with Mirabai Starr at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico. Emily is the cofounder of the national restaurant groups Pizza Loves Emily and Emmy Squared Pizza.