Once I ate a hamburger
in a film.
Now I’m eating a hamburger
in an ad
for a fast food chain.
The smiling king prepared
a seat for me at
the table where
I would be eating
the hamburger.
Heinz ketchup is the blood
of America.
You can wear a wig like me, Andy,
and eat your own hamburger.
Eating is an art.
I am so happy,
though I am a ghost,
though they pay me
only in ghost burgers.
I would gladly pay you
Tuesday
for a hamburger today
said Wimpy.
The wig is white,
it makes you look like
you just saw a ghost.
We are all
cartoon ghosts famous
for however long
it takes
to eat a hamburger.
Hamburglar made an art of stealing them.
‘Until the cows come home’
is ‘a very long time.’
I never lost control
of my image. The wig,
the I’m-not-here stare.
I didn’t think
I would be so hungry
in the afterlife.
I thought I would live
forever.
I was right.
But somebody made me eat
the burger I already ate.
I said, “No thanks, I’m full,”
but the suits said,
“You look so skinny
Andy. Have another
hamburger.”
Like they were my
mother or something.
———
Joseph Pascutazz. Grew up in rural Ohio. Lived in a trailer park in Pennsylvania. Fled to a Zen Monastery in upstate NY. Graduated from Bennington College’s writing program. Living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
———
