"hash browns & cadillac cars," "Morning at the local library," "Meanwhile on the / border with / Mexico," and "Five out of several failed attempts to bring equilibrium to the universe"

hash browns & cadillac cars

The site is gated, but everyone 
is welcome. So why hide content 
behind a form unless it is some-
thing like rare recordings or re-
search papers? I'm imagining a
row of Cadillacs, sunk in the dirt,
 
all spray painted over with BIRD 
LIVES. Only for a week, then they
will go back to being tagged with 
non-specific grafitti & become a 
parody of themselves. A single 
plug-in sensor detects electrical
 
noise on power lines at the flick 
of a switch. I am having hash
browns for breakfast. A dove 
comes & perches on the back deck
ceiling fan. The picture appears to
be of a black 1959 Ford Skyliner.

 


 

Morning at the local library

The left wing of the raven is
there to shield the eyes from
rain, has nothing to do with
politics. It starts to sing from 
the shelf it's on — not L'inter-
nationale, of course, more of
a Poe caw chorus. Its beak
reeks of baklava, its feathers
 
classified according to the
Dewey Decimal system. It
browses books at random. A
life too short to spend time 
working its way methodically 
through the library catalog.

 


 

Meanwhile on the / border with / Mexico

 Cowboy songs ring out as
cassowaries run riot on the
streets of Laredo. An agg-
ressive bird, regarded as
one of the world's most
dangerous, with a power-
ful kick & a lethal inner
claw that can slice open
anything it comes in con-
tact with. At the same time,
some are regarded as experts
in the field of illustrated man-
uscripts, especially those com-
posed by secular scribes. So
why are they currently active
in Texas, far far away from their
tradional haunts of New Guinea
& northern Australia? Appears
they are mistakenly believed to
be excellent security; & since
the gold card has been intro-
duced in the United States,
the wealthy are willing to
give them human names &
pay the two million dollars
required to permit them
citizenship. Given such costs,
the cassowary has started be-
lieving its shit doesn't stink,
has discovered Texas Bourbon
Whiskey, has the means to
afford it, but has countered
any possibility of disorderly
behavior by having hand-
tooled Laredo Western Boots
made for them, to keep that
killer claw from causing mayhem.

 


 

Five out of several failed attempts to bring equilibrium to the universe

I am trying to accessorize my walking stick with the phases of the moon, but the colors are all wrong & I don't recognize the song they are singing.

I am exfoliating the windows, but the few stars that are left haven't yet appeared so I am unable to tell if my efforts have been successful.

I have been holding my breath for 500 hours, as recommended by Fyodor Dostoevsky in Crime & Punishment, but the soles of my feet inevitably retain contact with the earth.

I was hoping to minimize the affect of rain on our pas de deux, but the local constabulary have confiscated all our tarpaulins as potential hiding places for IEDs.

I am attempting to synchronize my bowler hat with the catacombs of Rome, but the rattling skulls keep sliding off the diving board & I run out of time.

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Mark Young

Mark Young was born in Aotearoa / New Zealand but now lives in a small town in North Queensland in Australia. He has been publishing poetry for over sixty-six years, & is the author of around eighty books, primarily text poetry but also including speculative fiction, vispo, non-fiction, art history, & an artist's book. Recently published books include Balance, from Neo-Mimeo Editions, Nualláin House, Monte Rio, California & From the Cave’s jukebox, from Sandy Press, Santa Barbara, California. Mark recommends the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.