13,273. OVERLOOKING ONLY THE MOST SERIOUS THINGS

OVERLOOKING ONLY THE 

MOST SERIOUS THINGS 

Watching the diner-cook burning the bacon,

in a place out by Mauch Chunk, which is

now called Jim Thorpe, I wondered if the

Indians  -  the American kind, like Jim

Thorpe was  -  put milk in their coffee.

You know, I don't care about all those

stories  - a native American discriminated

against so as not to play football, or not be

recognized for it, or not be in the Olympics;

one of those dumb-ass stories that make no

difference to me, and who cares? There used

to be a Bob's Big Boy, a hamburger joint, out

in Scranton, under some huge highway trestles

far high above it. That was the late 1970's, and

I always tried to mix up the two : Jim Thorpe

at the counter of Bob's Big Boy, having a

burger and shake. Maybe that same bacon

here was for the baconburger then? Anyway,

if it keeps burning like that it will soon be a

Bacos-burger crisp. Maybe they can sell that

to the unwitting for ten dollars a pop. 'Hey,

Pop, want a Bacos burger-crisp? They're good.'

See Jim Thorpe, that's all America gets you,

a cruddy remainder of some burned-out food

and the name of a town changed just for you.

How crazy is that, and that I wrote this all

down just for you too?