"Zurich" and "Whakatane"

Whakatane

                     The accurate & eloquent
              Wordsworth would have
                        had little sympathy for the
                  inane phraseology of the Health
         authorities working around
                     the clock to try to determine
                          if the men who had gone
                   ashore were sympathizers of
               the French Revolution. Few
                              concepts, he said, are
                  as central to humanity as
                        the innocence of the dead.

 


 

Zurich

                             The gnomes are bored
                  with being enigmatic. Have
                                   dumped the seasonally
                       changing menu &
                            its old world sensibilities—
                                 the summery chic of
                        Gucci's classic synth-pop
                                       with inflected voice, the
                             yodelling electronic loops
                                                   of Dolce & Gabana's
                                  winter spectroscopy—in
                                            favor of a one size fits
                        all &, at the same time,
                                      hyper-masculine &
                              exceedingly feminine
                                  morphological de-
                                                      composition. Even
                                  more dissonant, with
               scratchy feedback. But
                                               still manages to keep
                               precise time under water.

 

 

Mark Young

Mark Young was born in Aotearoa / New Zealand but now lives in a small town in North Queensland in Australia. He is the author of more than sixty books, the most recent of which are with the slow-paced turtle replaced by a fast fish, published by Sandy Press in May, 2023, & a free downloadable chapbook of visuals & poems, Mercator Projected, published by Half Day Moon Press in August 2023. Mark recommends the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

 

Edited for Unlikely by Jonathan Penton, Editor-in-Chief
Last revised on Sunday, August 8, 2021 - 22:12