18 September 2023

Four Poems by Mark Young

A songnet

 

Community life
falls short of the
occult. It begins 
with choice & ends 
with a vaginal de-
livery where the 
uterus is removed 
for greater visibility. 

Conflict is a natural 
component of such 
a structure. Playing 
with dolls is some-
thing we have all
done in the past.

 

 

830 pages of secret cabinet papers have just been released

 

                                    This

                   may be a         blue bar

                        death & burial        rant that

                             dates back at         least a

                                  century That's        the last

                                       time I tried               to move

                                 the sternum             toward the

                             chin & quit           smoking.           

                        History is            historically

                   against me,         though in the

                   interim, for          the sake of my

                        loved ones           who always

                             go round              dressed as

                                  if they were          attending a

                                       family                   member’s

                                            wedding,              I've stood

                                            on the                    shoulders

                                       of hobbits &          examined

                                   myriad ways        of injecting

                             hot lunches             with green

                        growth hormones   & all without

                        risking my                inflated sense

                                              of self.

 

 

A line from Fernando Pessoa

 

So how should we record the

conversation when ordinary

language is not precise & what

is left out is precisely what

 

constitutes literature? There are

no norms, no scientific language

which might be intrinsically pre-

cise. Rather we turn to meta-

 

physics & violate ordinary usage

to show that violating ordinary

usage accomplishes nothing ex-

cept to demonstrate that we are

 

proud of the violation, do not

claim ignorance of the legal dict-

um, ignorantia legis neminem

excusat, but instead spit in its face.

 

 

A / Significant History / of Domestic Violence


                     Her profession de-
                         mands a lot of
                 her. A massage
                            therapist, on the
                     World Heritage List,
                    skilled in techniques
                          used by Native
                               Americans long be-
                           fore Windows was
                               introduced. Grat-
                         uitous photos
                    will be sent on
                             request. Federal
                energy tax credits
                             are also available.