Bagged Lunches

Brown bags she packed
For me
Never held surprises
It was always
Proscuitto or Capicollo sandwiches
On thick slices of Italian Bread
Dripping
              With tomatoes and oil
And it filled the cafeteria
              With the smell of garlic
And the freckled faced girls
              Laughed
When I bit into it
              Teasing me
About the grease
They would trade their lunch bags
              With the Oscar Mayer group
Or Campbell soup carriers
But they ignored me
And ate their peanut butter and jelly
              Sandwiches
On Wonder bread
With Twinkies for dessert
And I watched with
Curiosity and envy
              As my fragrant meal
Filled my empty stomach
And warmed
              My soul
It's so much more fashionable
Now
Being Italian
It's all the rage
              Now you gladly pay
$15.00 a pound
              For what I couldn't
Give away
And I wouldn't eat your
              Wonder Bread
If I were starving

"Absinthe" Photograph by Brian Ferguson