A line from Michelangelo
A new state of the art skate
park has more than forty
houses of worship within its
precincts, but still remains
monochromatic in its mourn-
ings. Weavers of flax mats sing
dirges, miners of peat wail
under incoherent light. That lamp
has burned for some time now. To
remind us that the foot is more
noble than its coverings, a single
shoe is placed on the coffin lid.
A line from Noomi Rapace
I watch couples practice modern
dance. Even in their reflection
in a nearby window it is obvious
there is a hierarchy, & strict gender
roles. I find myself endlessly re-
playing situations in which I wish
I'd performed differently. It's a
bit of an enigma as to why I do it
because I really don't know which
hand is which, & that's how you
get bruised no matter what the out-
come. Another scenario involves a cat.
A line from Anna Akhmatova
I had to look up what alt-
ac meant, & even then
wasn't sure that it applied
to me. True, I worked out-
side of academia, yet had no
home to return to. The past
several months have been
agonizingly lonely. I was an
accidental guest in a place
where guest houses didn't
exist. Only gulags, & even
they didn't seem to want me.
Mark Young was born in New Zealand but now lives in a small town in North Queensland in Australia. He has been publishing poetry for over sixty years, & is the author of around sixty books, primarily text poetry but also including speculative fiction, vispo, creative non-fiction, & art history. His most recent book is The Sasquatch Walks Among Us, from sandy press, & available through Amazon.