I scoop scented dough onto my Cucina Pro,

a sort of waffle maker for the uninitiated.

They say not everyone will like the taste

of anise that once wafted through great grandma’s kitchen,

of the kind of baked good you can make in a minute.

So fluffy, they can be eaten breakfast, lunch, and dinner

or complement a grand dessert of ice cream.

These cookies tell my family’s stories,

the ones when ancestors left an island in the Mediterranean,

forgoing languages and holding tight to recipes.

Pizzelles aren’t for royalty or incredibly

difficult to produce from simple ingredients

and a touch of anise flavoring.

They are a most ordinary cookie,

the kind for posterity, the kind of cookie

that reminds us that this kind of love

and this kind of home has been here

on both sides of the Atlantic all along.