the pizza delivery guy from elegant pizza
seems concerned about me on a friday evening
and
i don’t have the heart to tell him
that i’ve been flirting
with the sicilian pizza at vesuvio’s
the pepperoni from bay ridge’s best
that sometimes
i get a craving for
won tons and egg rolls
from lucky chinese over on 3rd
things have gotten more complicated
since i’ve quit the bars
streaming services and aches and pains
take-out menus scattered all over the table
57 channels and nothing on
the pizza delivery guy from elegant pizza
seems concerned about me on a friday evening
he says, i haven’t seen you in weeks, man
this isn’t even the night
i usually order from them
and i guess
i’d be concerned about me too
if i were facing a net loss of five bucks in tip money
every week for a month
you forget how fragile the economy really is
when you’re stuck in your own malaise
of boredom and self-loathing
i just nod and say
yeah, man, i haven’t been around
like a guy like me has somewhere to go
take the pizza from him
hand him the money for the pie
and an extra two bucks on top of the usual tip
for his trouble and concern
tell him
i’ll be around next week
but who knows if that’s really true
i could be dead by then
plus, there’s this new mexican place up the block
that makes a killer chicken burrito
they serve it with these spicy french fries
that’ll knock your socks off.
John Grochalski is the author of five poetry collections, three novels, and the novella Wolves of Berlin Play Amateur Night at the Flute and Fiddle Pub (Alien Buddha Press 2024). He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
