Mark Young (Author of the Month)

Mark Young

poking at a laptop

Burned out on the cycle of pub-

lish or perish, I might occasion-

ally seek solace in fast food

restaurants. That is until I was

taken into custody by a detect-

ive who cited my metallic body

& the fact I’d declined the kale

salad although it was on a sig-

nificant special. I pointed out

his rationale for my detention

was Procrustean; but was secret-

ly pleased he had arrested me.

Had always wanted a genuine

opportunity to use that analogy.

***

 

The hype, reactive

In hindsight, the subtypes 

differ, a fault in the assay

perhaps, or creeping deter-

minism. Even if you win,

lottery tickets are a bad in-

vestment. You won’t win all

the time; & in that time 50%

of your money goes down

the gurgler. Being struck by 

lightning is more likely — 

but before that happens, 

as judgment of a unique e-

vent, consider a gift to help 

make our mission possible.

***

 

Demersal Scalefish

My head explodes with unbearable

lightness. I throw myself on the nea-

rest lounger, look around for the 

book that brought me here. People 

are staring. I flap my fins at them. 

Such is the life of a fish out of water.

***

 

The / ibis are / out in force

The latest cyclone crosses the

coast near Bing Bong. The breaks

are negligible; &, before you know

it, Taylor Swift is back, her red lip-

stick perfect. Fences are being

erected to protect drivers.

***

 

notes from a broad

It's not that I think the world is broken, just that pieces keep falling off. At least, that's what I assume the debris around me is. & everywhere I go, more, & different, debris. Clips on YouTube, search results from Google, memories for sale on eBay, trivial newsbites from trivial news-sites; all mixed in with lines from millenium-old novels, fragments from mythology, subtexts, signs in shop windows, gall & philosophers' stones, lines from the decades of pop I have lived through, thoughts I & others have had. Or may still yet have.

It's a kind of bricolage, which means I'm a kind of bricoleur. I take these things I find around me & put them together; at least I try to. Not to repair the world but to see how the found objects look when rearranged—a parallel universe perhaps, a history or histories rewritten. Or, perhaps the world as it really is, because everything I write about comes out of the world around me.

We are subjected to information overload these days. So much so, in fact, that it becomes impossible to take it all in. Warhol's 15 minutes of fame has been reduced to 15 seconds so it fits as a soundbite in the evening news. Where it blurs, sandwiched between competing 15 seconds, goes digital, & we lose the last few words because the pre-programmed ads come in over the top & we end up not knowing if it was the grapple tackle or the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan that caused the floods in, was it, Pakistan. Peccavi, cabled General Napier from the Second Anglo-Sikh War. I have Sind. 

It's a funny old world, & I milk the humor as much as I can.

***

Bio: Mark Young was born in Aotearoa New Zealand but now lives in a small town on traditional Juru land in North Queensland, Australia. He is the author of more than sixty-five books, primarily text poetry but also including speculative fiction, vispo, memoir, & art history. His most recent books are a pdf, Mercator Projected, published by Half Day Moon Press (Turkey) in August 2023; Ley Lines II published by Sandy Press (California) in November 2023; un saut de chat published by Otoliths Books (Australia) in February 2024; & Melancholy, a James Tate Poetry Prize winner, published by SurVision Books (Ireland) in March 2024.

 

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Setu, April 2024