< tragedy >

[Leanne]

< tragedy >

in the last available instant
before your locomotive
of frozen delight
arrives

the hamburger of death
eats you
- - -

Ahem. If I may be so bold as to return to the poem :p... I've not kept up with the conversation, so forgive me if I seem repetitive, redundant or repulsive...

I have a picture of the hamburger of death eating "you" from the inside out, having already been consumed as the main meal in anticipation of more cholesterol-laden desserty badness (but cold this time). Now, "instant" is an interesting word to me for a whole bunch of reasons -- these days, "instant" seems to apply to almost every packaged food and it's probably fair to assume that the health benefits of said foods are directly proportional to the level of "instantness". For example, if one chooses an "instant dinner" (microwave for 3 minutes, so hardly "instant", but who here would split hairs?) over the dinner that takes an entire half an hour to prepare, one receives one-tenth the benefit. Of course, there are the intangibles to consider -- one also has the extra leisure time to plonk oneself down on the couch to watch "The Biggest Loser". One also gains far more from an instant meal: a good dollop of cholesterol, plenty of sulfur dioxide and other chemical lovelies, a nice helping of sugar or the phenylalanine of the day... and best of all, that warm microwave glow.

"Instant" gratification is the real killer, both of chunky hamburger lovers and of culture everywhere.