Day 906, December 5, 2022

Terminal Pursuits 

Growing up, anything that was not good for you, 

caused cancer. 

My mother, the scientist, knew these things. 

She would admonish us for eating the ramen uncooked 

because it would cause cancer. 

Too much French onion soup mix in the sour cream 

also caused cancer. 

And of course, Slim Jims. 

It seemed like everything I enjoyed 

and partook in excess, 

were terminal pursuits. 

I never really questioned moderation, 

it was more that we ate these things because 

we could not resist ourselves. 

It was like my father and his Winstons, 

and how mad he got when I took apart his Zippo 

and hid the pieces all around the house. 

I was equally frustrated when my fingers 

were too greasy to open another Slim Jim sleeve. 

The shaking frustration of the damned. 

\

My idea this morning was to write about the boundary of ice to 
Gravel and how the grave grew firm in the frozen earth,
But I forgot and wrote about Slim Jims instead.