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Cosmic Burgers
by Bruce W Niedt
Every day, I drive by one of those
ubiquitous fast-food restaurants
(you know, the one with the arches).
Today, I notice the sign beneath the logo:
Billions and billions served.
There used to be a tote board,
one they changed every week,
updating us on how many millions or billions
were served. I always wondered:
billions of what? Hamburgers? Fries?
Customers? Subpoenas?
I guess the numbers got so astronomical,
they stopped keeping count.
And speaking of astronomy,
didnt Carl Sagan, the late great cosmologist,
used to say that all the time?
Bill-yuns and bill-yuns
It became such a catchphrase,
a touchstone for impressions of him,
youd think he would have copyrighted it
then wouldnt our fast-food friends
owe something to his estate?
I try to imagine these numbers, these billions
what if every hamburger served was not consumed,
but launched into space?
Would their numbers form a new mass,
visible through telescopes,
a galaxy of hamburgers?
Would there be planets with onion rings?
Would Carl himself have marveled at the phenomenon?
We look out
on the vast expanse of starrrrssss
and we see the great galaxy McDonalda,
comprised of bill-yuns and bill-yuns of sandwiches,
and we wonder
can we get fries with that?
10/11/2003 Posted on 10/11/2003
Copyright © 2024 Bruce W Niedt
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Don Coffman on 10/14/03 at 07:31 AM I remember the tote boards too, at least as far back as when they'd still change the count of millions every few years. A thoroughly excellent poem, too. The whimsical tone and the musings are very enjoyable. Creative indeed is the mind that links burgers and Sagan. :) Interestingly enough, in his last book he claimed never to have actually spoken the words 'billions and billions.' Ponderous. :) |
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