We Called, and You Delivered

-- Joyce A.M. Anthony, Middletown, Md.

Deep dish, zesty, hot

Cheese burns the roof of my mouth

Love can be painful

-- Brenda and Katherine Bailey, Manassas, Va.

Night. The doorbell rings.

Yay! Pizza! Yell my siblings.

Wait! Mom says. Me first.

-- Kristina Barlow, Fairfax, Va.

Way to my man's heart

Clogs his arteries with grease

Two-timing pizza

-- Laura Boulden, Woodbine, Md.

Frozen concoction,

How can that be a pizza?

Close your eyes and eat!

-- Jessica Brainos, Ashburn, Va.

Pizzas procreate

By enslaving human minds

In yeasty service

-- Christopher G. Chute, Rochester, Minn.

extra virgin please

saucy cheesy basil tease

oh Margherita!

-- Albert Chiu, New York City, N.Y.

cheese melting slowly

staring out the oven door

the vultures await

-- Jim Cigler, Fairfax, Va.

invading my dreams;

browned bubbles of cheese and crust

pluck me from slumber

-- Brian Corbin, Washington, D.C.

A dream of sweet sauce,

Cheese clouds, crispy, crunchy, crust --

Wake up: Can't eat wheat!

-- Marilyn Cramer, Westminster, Md.

You can make pizza?

Like cheese and pepperoni?

Love, come live with me.

-- Evelyn Edmunds, Silver Spring, Md.

Capitulation.

Just healed, but Lorelei calls.

Hot pizza: love hurts.

-- Lee Fallon, Annandale, Va.

Three wild hungry boys

Will Papa Johns deliver

This night's salvation?

-- Nancy Comparin Fondriest, Alexandria, Va.

Oh veggie pizza

the beige box at Trader Joes

I love to hoard thee

-- Rita Fox, Triangle, Va.

Sacred dough circle

Topping is irrelevant

Crust must be divine

-- Roger Friend, Charlottesville, Va.

St. Pie, deliver

Me from cooking, and the rest

From a "healthy" meal!

-- Ann Marie Hicks, Ashburn, Va.

Four food groups for you

No pepperoni? Then three.

Still a perfect food.

-- Anissa Holm, Falls Church, Va.

Their oven roars but

foodie blog spits bigger flames

tells world: soggy 'za

-- Nicole Johnston, Falls Church, Va.

Should I, shouldn't I

Just one slice can't hurt too much

Just in case, pack Tums.

-- Alicia Y. Jones, Alexandria, Va.

After a night out,

Pizza is the best for me,

Hot Vitamin G!

-- Beth Kelley, Bowie, Md.

Cheesy saucy friend

En route in thirty minutes

Hey! Order your own!

-- Rebecca Levy, South Riding, Va.

Italian saints weep --

Flavia, Crispin, Nonna too --

When you leave the crust.

-- Mary Liston Liepold, Silver Spring, Md.

Siren pizza! You

Carbs temptress. You call to me.

I cave. Call for you.

-- Justine Lisser, Bethesda, Md.

risking life and less

we unbolt front door at night

for stranger with box.

-- Doug McBride, Hutto, Tex.

California ain't.

Deep dish Chicago's almost.

New York pizza is.

-- Patrick J.A. McClain, Herndon, Va.

Have another slice?

Only if you kiss me twice!

Hold the anchovies.

-- Bruce W. Radford, Washington

New York, Chicago?

A more compelling question

Than Hil or Barack.

-- Chris Mewett, Washington

I tug on a slice.

Why must you resist and cling

By those taut cheese ropes?

-- James L. Mills, Rockville, Md.

Molten cheese lashed lips

tomato stung burning flesh

soul encountered bliss

-- Dan Morgiewicz, Burke, Va.

You stoke the oven

and pull out Aztec rainbows

of chiles and prawns.

-- Kerney Rhoden, Charlottesville, Va.

Pizza could be bliss,

But alas, the girlfriend can't

Abide anchovies.

-- Dan Rice, Charles Town, W.Va.

pizza is like love

warm comforting and sometimes

overly cheesey

-- Erin Ridout, Alexandria, Va.

how do I love thee?

oh, let me count the toppings

-- this will take awhile.

-- Sue Rogovsky, Mt. Rainier, Md.

Yesterday's pizza

No longer ambrosia, still

Breakfast of champions

-- Lois Roy, Manassas, Va.

Dark was upon us.

Then the heavens trumpeted:

"Let there be pizza!"

-- Ed Scherr, Potomac, Md.

Pizza pie are round

Numeric pi are square

Form follows function.

-- Margaret Schrader, Washington, D.C.

How about a girl

who ate seventeen pizza

slices in one hour?

-- Margaret Shen, Fairfax, Va.

The line on MacComb

indicates chaos inside.

Amys, I will stand.

-- Marcia Silcox, Washington, DC

Flat, cold, cheese, dough, yeast.

Fire transformation - Behold,

It has arisen!

-- Stephan Spitzer, Brookeville, Md.

Yo, Mamma mia,

Under the Pizzeria

With 'shrooms, bury me!

-- Robert J. Surrette, Falls Church, Va.

As Passover looms

Talk of leavened pizza seems

Outright cruelty

-- Michael Turniansky, Pikesville, Md.

Lines at 2 Amys;

if only my pizza pie

lasted quite so long.

-- Alexandra Veitch, Washington, D.C.

To choose a mate, ask:

Will it be thin crust or thick?

Wars are fought for less.

-- Anita Thiel Winters, Bethesda, Md.