We Called, and You Delivered

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Washington Post readers love haiku, and everybody loves pizza, so it was no surprise that our call for pie-ku entries received more than 400 submissions. Many of them didn't rise above the likes of "ooey, gooey, yum," but plenty of the three-line, 17-syllable verses possessed simple, punchy turns of phrase that in one way or another captured the essence of pizza.

We turned to former poet laureate Robert Pinsky to sift through 50 finalists and pick three winners plus honorable mentions. Besides being a true populist poet, Pinsky has unassailable pizza cred: "I thought at first that I had to decline judging this contest, because my standards are too high," he wrote in an e-mail. "I am from New Jersey, after all! And not only New Jersey, but Monmouth County, home of the legendary Freddie's." As soon as he started reading, though, he rose to the challenge with gusto.

Winners, Pinsky's justification and their prizes are:

First Place

For a nice simile, a play on "rising" and the vivid final image:

Rising discs of dough

Tossed, twirled, like small planets on

A one arm axis

-- Donna Adler, Potomac

Adler, 53, a software developer, will receive our grand prize: a personalized pizza-making lesson with Pizzeria Paradiso chef-owner Ruth Gresser.

Second Place

For the regional interest of wittily adapting a Washington phrase for the last line:

Left-over pizza

Still tastes just great they say. But

I can't confirm that

-- Matt Egan, Reston

Egan, 69, a retired CIA officer, will receive a Mario Batali pizza cutter.

Third Place

For its truth:

New York cheese pizza --

Need it more than the skin on

The roof of my mouth

-- Annette Anderson, Oak Hill

Anderson, 41, a homemaker, will receive a gift certificate to ZPizza in Herndon.

Honorable Mentions

For its echo of ancient Japanese poetry:

Pizza, I love thee --

please . . . wait for me in the fridge --

until breakfast time

-- Loren Smith, Falls Church

For a kind of opposite appropriateness of the form (and for truth):

Japanese pizza

Is better written about

Than it is eaten

-- Francesca Kelly, Bethesda

For the metaphysical burst of the last line:

Beyond three score now,

Yet still must have one weekly.

O, circle of joy

-- Elaine Braverman, Arlington

Despite the shocking omission of crust:

Pepperoni top,

Middle cheese and bottom sauce.

My food pyramid

-- Nancy Caldwell, Walkersville

Smith, Kelly, Braverman and Caldwell each will receive a copy of "American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza," by Peter Reinhart.

Finalists

Teenagers toddlers

husbands in-laws geezers guests

Saved! Delivery

-- 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.