Pino's Pizza

Like many
my childhood was not idyllic
not to say it was traumatic
although there is always
a degree of trauma
for any child as they move
from adolescences to adulthood
But like many
there were also small excitements
and simple joys
not least among them
the weekly visits to the vaulted
Pino's Pizza
where my father would schmooze
with the Perrecone paterfamilias
and matriarch as I basked in their
warm wood paneled store front
and maybe fed a quarter
to the aging Mrs. Pac-Man
and returning home with bounty
we would feast
on BBQ chicken or Canadian bacon
Hawaiian or taco pizzas
with my mother periodically having her own
small anchovie concoction
and although Pino's has since closed
it's memory of hospitable comfort
and peerless deliciousness
will never fade
it remains my Platonic ideal
my ur-pizza
a greatness I may search for
but never again attain.