Four poems by Mark Young

A line from Albert Camus

If we build a light rail away
from the festival’s epic main
stage, it is possible it may
emerge into a cyber warfare

world & infest attics & gardens—
an example is the Fandango
Facebook bot on Messenger.
The stage-sets collapse. Then

comes the familiar resident
grumbles about movie trucks
& trailers disrupting the day
to day activities of their

neighborhoods & the taking
away of their right to bear
witness. Farmers add another
concern: the return of wolves.

..

road rage punch-up

Gritty crashing the Flames’
broadcast may be one of
the most overused tropes

in popular pharmacy, but it
still keeps your guitar, bass,
or other stringed instrument

safe, even when a police
dog comes flying off the
top rope to bite your assets.

..

is suggestive of

I go to the issuu site
of the issue of a
journal I am in

& am invited to
let lots of hot
russian ladies

grow my business
on line, & am also
let know that beaut-

iful thai ladies are
available to marry me
if I convert to a pdf.

..

inappropriate calories

It’s a magic number. No, not
three, which seems to have
assumed the position because
of children’s shows & De la

Soul & Blind Melon, amongst
the many who have risen to
fame on the back of that claim.
We’re actually unsure of what

the magic number really is. Let’s
call it X, let’s say it varies. Like
how many people on a bridge
before it starts to wobble. Or

how long it takes for high heels
to start hurting. Or bad style in
source code. Which means this
piece will probably not compute.

..

 

Mark Young lives in a small town in North Queensland in Australia, & has been publishing poetry since 1959. He is the author of around fifty books, primarily text poetry but also including speculative fiction, vispo, & art history. His work has been widely anthologized, & his essays & poetry translated into a number of languages. His most recent books are The Perfume of The Abyss from Moria Books; A Vicarious Life — the backing tracks from otata; taxonomic drift from Luna Bisonte Prods; & Residual sonnets from Ma Press of Finland.