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FAMIGLIA: From the “American Folksong Suite”
My hayfever had never been so bad,
messy, out of control even with the medicine.
I wouldn’t have gone, but he wanted me to.
His family was all there, where they work,
at his Zia Rosa’s restaurant. They were
very quiet when we came in. They gave us
a table by the kitchen, where they could watch.
We didn’t order, they just brought us the food:
antipasto with perfect vegetables and cheeses,
bread that crackled when I bit into it
but soft and melting inside,
the best chianti. And then the pasta–
homemade spaghetti with sauce rich
and thick as blood.
Three perfect meatballs, Rosa’s specialty.
Then it happened–with all that beautiful food