a subtle karate pose

by Mark Young

The back pages react,

squawk humiliation—

two types of nothing. A

rash of malicious ads

arrive out of the blue.

Intense panic attacks

spread crypto ransom-

ware. In response the

Department of Derma-

tology has released a

virginia creeper that sits

on a low orange divan

beside either The Bos-

phorus or the Straits of

Magellan—the trans-

lation is unclear—to help

people understand the

subtle differences between a

lightning strike & a strikeout

in the final innings with the

Boston Red Sox up at bat.

by Mark Young

The studio system still

in operation in the

'fifties. A flagship blonde

contracted to each. Mamie

van Doren one studio's

answer to Jayne Mansfield

who, in turn, was that

studio's answer to

Marilyn Monroe; though

who was who's you'd

know better than I. & of

the three, the one

who at some point

accompanied my teenage

boylust was Jayne Mansfield,

strutting her stuff

in The Girl Can't Help It. Not

her that turned me on, though;

was Little Richard

singing the title song

that flicked my switch.

by Mark Young

. . . . & so it is the

coming in, one

foot across

the other, model

strut, the dressage

horse. Such an

en-trance. Only. Is

not the coming

in, is a coming

out. . . .

by Mark Young

In the late 1950s & through

the ‘60s, he would buy up

redundant iron lungs &

decorate them, initially with

art nouveau designs, later

with psychedelia, then pass

them off as orgone boxes.

by Mark Young

The iPhone case is based

on 1950s technology, is

made of real bamboo, 100%

natural & biodegradable.

This one features yellow

Asiatic lilies to give con-

scientious consumers true

peace of mind & leave

them full of laughter. It

will return to the Earth

leaving minimal environ-

mental impact, & means

the question of how long

people can survive the

extreme conditions in

space need never be asked.

by Mark Young

Even though they seem very

much alike, make up a scratch

template, not a template from

Scratch, to create that desktop

database. Neither uses electronic

systems for operating puppets

or focuses on words related

to animal husbandry. Neither

resembles a piece of concrete,

or a watermelon, or any

other well-known construct

of technology. Their smell is

similar; &, when looked in the

eye, both have a tendency to

turn & run. Only then might

it be possible to tell them apart.