RETURN TO DODGE

2008, Newton, N.J.

If I was a famous poet I would eat
in the famous poets tent and have food
for famous poets but instead I head
back to Mimmo’s over and over
for the minestrone, the chicken cutlets and
the Taylor ham, egg and cheese

And each time I go they ask my name
to write it on the ticket
and when Rose, the owner’s wife,
brings it over, she says, “you again?”
She’s genuinely nice like the nice you find
in people who are not in the city.
The pizzeria restaurant is in Wharton, some place
nearby, but I couldn’t say where.

Rose says you like the food, so, now
you should come to the restaurant.
To Rose I’m not a famous poet
not famous at all, just a hungry guy
who wears a camera and a knapsack
and a hat (sometimes) that says
Zamboni on it.

Rose is pretty in a young wife way
What is young to me, twenty, thirty,
forty, fifty or whatever.
But she says it’s the blond who works there
with her who’s memorable.
Rose doesn’t know how memorable
she herself is.
But come Monday she’ll be back at work
at the law office and I’ll head to work
in the city, and if I don’t get
to Wharton at all, we’ll meet again
at Dodge in two years.
And if by then I’m a famous poet
I’ll dash away with these books to sell
and stop at Mimmo’s to say hello.

-- Copyright © 2010 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.

From 2008 Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival

A Brief Respite For a Restive Spirit
Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival
The latest news on Mimmo's
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In 2012, the Dodge Poetry Festival was moved to Newark. Mimmo's had gone out of business.