25 November 2022
23 November 2022
Four Poems by Mark Young
#1
There is half a moon in the sky this afternoon as I take the washing off the line. I think it has something to do with the rampant inflation that coats the current world, how once you could afford a full moon, now the same amount of money only buys you half.
#2
I am reminded of that Magritte painting, Le Seize Septembre, as the moon makes its way upwards behind the large tree that stands between us. In the Magritte, it is a new moon rising in front of the tree; here the moon is almost full, & the tree has regained its normal place in front of it.
#3
There is a total eclipse about to begin. I am sitting on a chair on the back deck. Between me & the moon is not only that tree but, in the time it's taken for the moon to clear the topmost branches, around 3000 fruit bats have passed by, off on their nocturnal foraging.
#4
Dead birds punctuate the highway. The moon is nowhere to be seen.
geographies: Raptor Alley
A new Prodigy reverb is available
now. Proceed with caution, even
though the graffiti is attractive on
this one, as is the front & back em-
broidery with its delightful red
contrast stitching. Anthropologists
& historians clash over the diet &
friendship goals that need to be em-
bedded; but both share concerns at
the paucity of its graphics memory.
Bottled anatomical specimens do not
share address spaces with hackable
notification daemons accused of
fondling & propositioning male
undercover police officers. Rather
they are classified under dental &
veterinary apparatus & instruments,
& designed for lightweight MS Windows
managers to help detect dreadlocks if
their arousal is slower than it used to be.
Letraset
aircraft
budget
carrier
deficit
electrical
french
grid
horn
instant
john
karma
lennon
mouth
no
organ
parking
quality
race
survey
track
under
violent
water
xenophobe
yodeling
zygote
21 November 2022
Demolition of a Black Hole in a Red Eye by Logan Roberts
The demolition of doubt confiscates everything inside. I am mush
inside mush. A constellation of black holes. The bus races towards a dead end.
A child sits alone in the back under the flickering light. It’s all so melodramatic.
Automatic. The demolition of a constellation. I am a race towards the dead,
alone under a black hole. A child doubts everything inside. A black hole
confiscates, flickering alone. The doubt automatic. Everything so alone.
Dead mush inside holes of melodramatic light. The demolition of a constellation,
the light sits alone. Everything inside is doubt. Everything inside is black.
Everything inside is constellation. Everything inside is demolition.
The child races a black hole. Everything inside the child sits in demolition.
A black hole is a child, a constellation is a demolition of doubt. Mush is
so melodramatic. Everything is doubt. A black hole is dead. A child is dead.
A child confiscates the dead. The flickering light confiscates the child. A
Doubt confiscates everything & everything is racing towards death. Under the
child is the back of everything dead. In the end, everything inside is the
demolition of doubt confiscating everything inside. The demolition of doubt
confiscates everything inside. I am mush inside mush.
A constellation of black holes. The bus races towards a dead end.
A child sits alone in the back under the flickering light. It’s all so melodramatic.
Automatic. The demolition of a constellation. I am a race towards the dead,
alone under a black hole. A child doubts everything inside. A black hole
confiscates, flickering alone. The doubt automatic. Everything so alone.
Dead mush inside holes of melodramatic light. The demolition of a constellation,
the light sits alone. Everything inside is doubt. Everything inside is black.
Everything inside is constellation. Everything inside is demolition.
The child races a black hole. Everything inside the child sits in demolition.
A black hole is a child, a constellation is a demolition of doubt. Mush is
so melodramatic. Everything is doubt. A black hole is dead. A child is dead.
A child confiscates the dead. The flickering light confiscates the child. A
Doubt confiscates everything & everything is racing towards death. Under the
child is the back of everything dead. In the end, everything inside is the
demolition of doubt confiscating everything inside.
19 November 2022
Five Poems by Damon Hubbs
Beauty Colony
argo in red shirt sails / pants, cargo / there is
a before & an after / in two
five day
bURSTS
called the white witch
& with a new life contr[act] the badge
with demeaning nickname is removed
Mom’s for Liberty
Daughter’s of the Revolution
the “work,” an indoctrination
each trainee
dresses a fantasy version
of themselves &
carries the room in death /
rebirth exhibit
in wilderness
the point of the spear
is
the sp[ear]
recruiting an audience.
Crooked Silo
unknowingly the mole admires stalactite cathedrals
dimples, freckles
of field,
buckle and folds of the basal layer
loops / whorls / arches
the landscape bodymapped
in Muller glia
the monolithic stare of cows / melanoblasts
underland
there are platforms
& pyramids
linked by complex
causeways
cavefish have lost sight of their eyes
a rotunda of stone
cut / out of a buried river
& filled
black dune grains sheltering in vein time
force sensor / discharge valve / flow patterns
of katabasis
winched into the abyss
we climb the crooked silo, feeding the rat.
Norway
The submarine is five meters underwater.
The water has been here since the day
trolls mixed ochre with cod liver
to paint their caves red
a poor substitute for the sun
or a Danish designed PH5 pendant lamp.
The submarine is now a restaurant
and a 1.5 hr scenic drive from Kristiansand
when guests arrive in scuba gear
waiters & sommeliers / cooks & interns
say hello with great warmth & hospitality
no one mentions the masks & snorkels, the BCDs
the 18-course immersion menu features pure, naked flavors.
state of the art
the day is generative, metallic blue and fed with seasonal congratulations. after. the. tight. and. docile journey. in which a network of databases containing centuries of landscape and portraits are rendered into the wet black surface of their eyes, the Guernsey Jersey Brown Swiss and Red and White grand champions of the greater tri-state region arrive at the livestock pavilion and are herded into the Grange Hall of the State Fair. The official 4-H beef enrollment forms are signed, weigh-in information is recorded and bedding fees paid. Competitive livestock are drug tested in accordance with the Livestock Premium Book, Section 3.
all entries are submitted on disposable plates: muffins, cookies, one and two crust pies, quick breads, yeast breads, breakfast rolls, hula hoop-wide whoopie pies, meringue swans on pink-fondant plinths with matching fondant flowers, industrial-sized butter sculptures of hands, mouths and ears, cream-swollen confections tipped with trompe-l’oeil cherries —implying a complete universe, the hermetic sensibility and formal clarity of baked goods extends beyond their material bounds.
later, in the Fine Arts Competition, a picture made by an algorithm wins a blue ribbon. First prize $300. Every ingredient must be listed in exact measurements and the type of in[gre]di[e]nt must be specifie[d]
next slide, please.
lazy river
the lazy river
loves to laugh
at how lazy
we are,
traveling without seeing
only half-
submerged
we pile in
& out
change bathing suits
rent rafts & rubber rings
tuck into hotels
new weather
just like the old,
thinking all the while
that we are peeling an orange
in a single fluid gesture.
18 November 2022
Three Poems by petro c.k.
16 November 2022
Five Poems by Joshua Martin
Under the Objections
Desperation black star folded antiquity
promising table tennis another cup of tea
with teeth to chatter walloping savoir-faire
until cold headed cabbage poles become bronzed.
The caves rattle rocking gently clock winding
as a cat institutional fever dream pillbox.
Walls pour concrete
diaphragms to dilemmas
among diatribes distant
& hauling reflexive trombones.
Special puppy pony tail
riding shotgun special.
They made cheese dance fandango distortions
naming conventional wisdom rollercoasters
brandished around neck noose tattoo mothership
without coup to eviscerate memorial jug bands.
Instantly backpedaling monster
Build to climatic ineptitude
& then pounce
tigers whisper
sweet illusions
while markets crumble
Phantom tollbooths
carry buffets home
prairie oyster foam
penetrates jackfruit
Are nights
longer than
gun barrels
or do we
just fear
our sphincters?
A text
a mess
persistence implies
an answer to a
quandary
whereas
automation only
benefits the wealthy
A well of rock fluids
skin boarding
short fused
turned out
to be a
pickle in
of a
pine cone
barbaric empire of marine fossils
ecstatic beaver fever of ironic plate glass
shrunken before the beehive icicle
once shuttered like yo-yo in a pinecone
release hazy diametric summers
closer to a concept of cooling stalactites
pinching bridge of nose in turn a rose
mishmashes seedling partaking frost
seldomly a mule before a simplified hot spring
salted and deposited without use of kidney
leaking lava
from where scurried borders loosen
employing postmortem wheatgerm
raised higher than celestial sandstone dictionaries
Crop circles
Devoted hydrosphere
a carrot w/o a flute ---
carbonated discipline
of described soil samples.
Breath of landform
, patterns screaming flora impediments
,, interacting throughout combined parrots
,,, on cue and meteorologically theoretical.
fabled figures in a parade
skirts of grape dilemma horns
referenced Babylonian starched collars
there are sullen hymnals
tied to a backside sweating
inches grow femurs
bugs groan salads
welts form spindles
my spiderweb for a munching hammer
strumming beautician and the beasts
baseball helmet shaped like a blade
box cutter orange
spraying empires
juggling hot tubs
avoiding axioms
proving database
‘former KGB picnic
operating out of a
schoolyard hat rack
never meant glands’
overcoming canyon stink
as a punishment for rice
vice versa Americana
offended by ox tail widows
the window squeezes debris
meetings held up to glass house
wherever ceilings uncover gripping
ignoring
‘are you screaming
so as to yield the
signpost to another’s
drooping jowls?’
newt without an inbox
cuter than a mantelpiece
caged near delta dominations
fabulous cathedral juked
‘varied stains taken
as scripture argyle’
at least our lungs
are dirty & straining