Grace

One of the most graceful things I have ever
seen, began with a slice of pizza.
When I was young, I would watch old movies
after coming home and before my parents
arrived from work, losing myself in black
and white cinematic wonder.

In one such movie, Sophia Loren was a noble
woman, pretending to be a peasant,
hungry and alone.
She met a child eating pizza,
scattering toppings everywhere
and scolded them for the waste they displayed.

She demonstrated the proper manner
in which to eat a slice, first folding it over
upon itself, in essence a pizza sandwich.
The lesson could not be imparted
so easily, and so naturally she had
to demonstrate again.

I was fascinated with her hands,
the easy movement she displayed
in such a simple act,
practicing the way she held them for weeks
afterward, intensely aware and ashamed
of my own awkwardness in the face of such grace.