16.7.26

Four Poems by Mark Young

prehensile dog washers

 

Poke out your tongue, wrap

it around a lollipop, & now

try to whistle for the dog to

come inside for its weekly

wash. Nothing happens; or,

 

at least, nothing that was

meant to happen. Locusts

fly down from their perches

on the pyramids of Giza &

eat the Sphinx away. The

 

Red Sea opens & closes, o-

pens & closes, unsure if it

too is meant to be at war. A

dyslexic President abuses

the Pope for washing the

 

peet of the foor, saying he'd

never let such garbage into

his nice white house, then

puts on his corny thrown

before his seance with doG.

 

 

 

Liturgical music

The church is a business

Robert Creeley: After Lorca

 

Once was the rattle of coin, the ringing

of the cash register, given a more noble

form when celebrated in song. Clang,

clang, clang went the trolley, ding, ding,

ding went the bell, sang Judy Garland

when she was met in St. Louis, but her

text holds none of the mystery that is

supposed to be imbued within it. The

Second Vatican Ecumenical Council

had plenty to say about that, 69 clauses

intended to cover every aspect — how

it's important to look & sound your

best, especially if the service is  going

out on TV; what part the various

parts of the organization should play;

what to do if the attendant musicians

lack the desired skills necessary to play

well; & if have them, what celebrations

shouldn't they be permitted to play at.

Masses for the dead are one of the pro-

scribed events, which is possibly why

Creeley also notes that the mourners go

doucement, doucement to the cemetery.

 

 

 

Her only friend was a robot named Desire

 

The person throwing stones

has been known to stand

in the street & yell Stella at

the world. That she has a

voice that reminds one of

Grace Slick is a little off-put-

ting; but it is the summer of

love, though the brutal exe-

cution of Benito Mussolini

is still remembered as a high

point in The Chronicles of Nar-

nia after it was lip-synched

on The Tonight Show with

Johnny Carson & became the

defining moment of an era.

 

 

 

Transparent pterodactyls

 

Like a giant Faraday cage, the

all-metal construction provides

versatility across a wide range

of applications in such areas as

 

writing, editing, & design. Mir-

rors aren't just decorative. Their

studies of hunter–gatherer

locomotion create the illusion

 

of larger spaces; & their theoret-

ical analyses have implications

for manufacturers of religious

artifacts such as baptism tents.