Recently sold at Christies for $US121 million

René Magritte's L’empire des lumières.

Noisy birds silence 
the trees. Someone 
is reading as they 
sleep. Against the blue 
the house has braced 
for night. Entrance is 
gained through a door 
in the roof. The pond 
is full of stars. A street- 
lamp echoes. The sky 
is empty. Only clouds.

Data Dump Duet (the remix)

Deduplicate database records. Delete existing 
migrations. Ancillary data is preserved from
the import of MXF files. Write this to tpx1/4c. 
The Aussie popstar ended up missing the cut.

When writing the mrlithium duet files via
cmd, or singing frozen with kakulitan medyo
mahina data nila dito, the 93c66 immo dump
should be put in immobox. I put the ecu 

eeprom data into virgin state. Signal K must
have been misinterpreting or dumping the 
sentences in the conversion to SK. What 
eeprom is in the ecu in systems with AVC-

Intra native recording formats? A printable 
brain dump duet planner with a green & 
white color scheme contains a single type-0xEE 
partition. I'm going out to buy a watermelon.

All / those who / come as guests

In Antwerp he asks the truck drivers 
but in vain. The day starts fading 
& they, without being trapped by
retrospective, exert no influence upon 
judgments of distance. He walks away

from them. All totalitarian dystopias, 
in life & in art, seem to be obsessed
with the everyday crimes of the
middle classes.The Texas Chain-
saw Massacre keeps looping in 

his mind. Incongruous in it is 
the figure of Beatrice as Dante saw her,
in shadows, lighting them, diffusing 
them, her hand raised, frozen. In time 
the opacities may affect his vision.

According to Descartes

It might be tarted up
by the French as being

une belle epoque, but
essentially the state of 

natural philosophy in
the middle ages can best

be described as a few 
horny gentlemen in a hot 

tub trying to make it with 
a girl in a red bikini.  

Instead / of the / usual wednesday newstrip

a theory, that

DoNuts Tr(I)umphant has no intention of following through on his MAGA claim. Instead, it would appear as if, incensed by the fact that he didn't win re-election in 2020, he's embarked on an opposite campaign, to turn the country into a dystopian wilderness.

Take a look at his proposed cabinet picks. Start with the best-known names, Elongated Muskrat & RooFracK. The Muskrat will co-chair a new newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an entity DoNuts Tramp has indicated will operate outside the confines of government. His co-chair, Vivisection Ravasmarmy, has made it known that the dismantling of the Department of Education will be the initial priority. RooFracK has accepted an appointment to be secretary of the Department of Health & Human Services, a perfect fit for one of the nation’s most prominent anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists, who has frequently spread false conspiracy theories about the safety & efficacy of vaccines.

Amongst other nominees: Tulsi Gabbard who "has a consistent habit of trusting 'foreign propaganda' over the very people she would lead as America's spymaster, making her wholly unqualified to be director of national intelligence" as Josh Rogin, foreign policy columnist for The Washington Post wrote; Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who, purportedly, had sex with an underage girl, but was never charged, for attorney general; & the day after DoNuts Tromp selected Fox News personality Pete Hegseth, who does not have senior military or national security experience, to oversee the Pentagon & the U.S. military command, it was revealed that Hegseth was investigated for sexual assault in California in 2017.

The litany goes on. To quote ex-RNC chair Michael Steele: "DoNuts T.®ump is leveling up a menagerie of misfits, people that he knows are not competent, capable, or intelligent enough to do the jobs that he is giving them."

As someone recently noted, DoNuts T.®ump might finally achieve his lifelong dream of actually being the smartest person in the room.

God Bless Save America.

geographies : Orbost

 

You / could have / knocked me down

The ridge of up-
right hair made things
easy for. Distinctive or
prominent, given to
a number of 
guests & held 
in a public 
manner. Gorilla war-

fear. Gratifying. But
only to those who were
affected by some terminal
payment. The remainder
reluctantly signed 
their names to a petition. 

wednesday newstrip

Forty-three monkeys escape from research facility in South Carolina · "tar balls" found recently on Sydney beaches show traces of human faeces, methamphetamine, & PFAS: new analysis · tears, joy, & fear on the streets of DC after T.®amp's victory · lost emperor penguin lands in Australian town thousands of miles away from icy Antarctica home, the farthest north the bird has ever been found · Texas campus in uproar after protesters hold signs declaring ‘women are property’ on quad after T.®emp victory · experts urge people to stay indoors & hydrated as heatwave rolls across much of Australia · Zach Bryan’s ex, Brianna "Chickenfry" LaPaglia, claims the singer offered her $18 million to stay silent on break-up · men charged in foiled Iranian plot to assassinate T.®imp.

geographies: Glenfalloch

 

Is the world about to plunge to its

?

Scheherazade at the speed of light

The two plays
one novel
&

five
chapters of
autobiography that I

wrote overnight wouldn't
fit in
this

space
so I'm
leaving it empty.

wednesday newstrip

Climate crisis: October saw record floods & rains across the globe · "She's a radical war hawk," said DoNits T.®amp of Liz Cheney. "Let's put her with a rifle standing there, with nine barrels shooting at her, okay? Let's see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face" · Ms Cheney's riposte: "This is how dictators destroy free nations," she wrote on X. "They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country & our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant" · Queensland's Truth-Telling & Healing inquiry to pause its work plan as new right-wing State Premier David Crisafuilli stands by plan to stop process · on the eve of New Zealand’s Māori language celebration week, the country’s right-wing political leaders ordered public agencies to stop affirmative action policies for Māori people, who are disadvantaged on almost every metric · Cassius, the world's largest crocodile in captivity, dies in Far North Queensland.

wednesday newstrip

Western Australia man diagnosed with scurvy · at least 3,000 North Korean soldiers now inside Russia on the way to Ukraine, US says · DoNuts T.®ump prefers the "dictator approach" to running a country, & openly wished he had "Hitler's generals" when he was US president, his former White House chief of staff says · Türkiye's interior minister says five people have been killed & 22 others injured in what he describes as a "terrorist attack" in central Türkiye · Iran recruiting Israeli citizens to spy against their government, with social media the key to luring them in · gas industry in damage control as landmark study finds LNG 'worse than coal' for the climate · New Zealand still complicit in global shark fin trade.

wednesday newstrip

Republican nominee DoNuts T.®ump has requested a military plane to use during the final weeks of the campaign, citing concerns that Iran is trying to kill him · a 65-year-old female sergeant is under investigation by Victoria Police, following allegations she performed a Nazi salute in front of police recruits · British woman who killed her parents & lived with their bodies for four years is sentenced to life · Sydney’s Coogee beach closed after mysterious black 'tar balls' wash ashore · Northern Territory's new conservative government passes legislation to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 10, in first week of parliament · Police say babies in Indonesia are being sold for as little as $AU1,450 · man falls into sewage tank in rural Ōtaki: 20 minutes later, Vivian St in Wellington flooded.

wednesday newstrip

Australian Opposition leader Putrid Dustbin attacks Prime Minister for including calls for ceasefire & de-escalation in motion reflecting on 7 October · Bunnings Australia shoppers go wild over $15 item for transforming dirty grout: 'Holy grail' · T.®ump spoke with Putain at least seven times since leaving White House, Bob Woodward reports · McDonald's Australia brings back beloved $2.50 menu item after three years · Evangelicals for Harris claim Franklin Graham is threatening to sue them · classic Aussie phrase — 'mate' — offending people in 2024 · Notjustanyahoo says Israel has killed late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's successors · T.®ump stuns social media as he dances along to YMCA at the end of speech about October 7 attacks.

A couple of new books

Mark Young
The Magritte Poems
Sandy Press
ISBN: 979-8-9898666-3-2
Amazon URL: https://a.co/d/65ZzzPr
648 pages
Paperback: $US24.99
Kindle: $US12.00

This is a book 21 years in the making. The first Series Magritte poem — three words, three lines — was composed on the front step of a motel room at Yarra Glen, about 50 kilometers from Melbourne. It appeared on the As/Is blog in — I think — November 2003, was followed by another twenty or so at the same blog, & then, in March 2024, the following post appeared at my then main blog, Pelican Dreaming:

I have decided to start a blog for my Series Magritte poems. The URL is https://seriesmagritte.blogspot.com.

As I write this, there are 547 poems up at Series Magritte. I have included all of them in this book. Interspersed among them are a number of other poems — the Florence Foucault centos, composed of extracts from Michel Foucault's book on Magritte, This Is Not a Pipe, & the 1860 The Ladies’ Book of Etiquette, by Florence Hartley, some of which actually appeared under the pseudonym of Florence Foucault, & also included are other of my poems that reference Magritte, including one that dates back to 1974. My admiration for René Magritte goes back a long way!

This is a collected, not a selected, so it may be uneven in quality. I would also have liked to include some of the Magritte paintings that inspired the poems, but that would undoubtedly have raised copyright issues as well as ending up as a seriously expensive tome. I have no intention of stopping writing Magritte poems, but I've decided to bring a dotted line to the venture so that I can see what it looks & feels like in book form. For those that don’t like the heft of such things, there is also a Kindle edition which Amazon warns may take a while to download.

I want to thank Javant Biarujia for his introduction, which is up at Sandy Press, & Sheila E. Murphy for her blurb which can be found on the Amazon page. Their words are more than I deserve.

I also want to thank Bill Allegrezza & Jukka-Pekka Kervinen for publishing earlier selections of my Magritte poems. I want to thank harry k stammer for publishing this collection & for doing the covers of some of the aforementioned smaller books. Lastly, I'd like to pay tribute to René Magritte for making the invisible visible.

There's also a recently published collection of my non-Magritte poems.

Alkaline Pageantry
Serious Publications
Lulu URL: https://www.lulu.com/shop/mark-young/alkaline-pageantry/paperback/product-rmenkpq.html?page=1&pageSize=4
76 pages
$US4.82

Alkaline Pageantry is the latest collection of poems by Mark Young that reflect — like much of his previous work — the insanity & inanity of the modern world. 'Give me a seagull with a / positronic brain & I'll / give you the next leader / of the modern world.' The poems come from the last six years, before, during, & after Covid; touch on the duplicity of world leaders; use search engines as a creative tool; deploy humor as a weapon to lay waste to civilization as it’s currently presented. 'Sorry, / nothing / matched your / search terms. Please / try / again with / a different fish.'

Today the post
woman brought
me a trans-
Atlantic passenger
liner. I tried to

sail it in the lagoon
at the bottom of the
street but when I got
it in there it wouldn't
budge, something to

do with Newton's
unpublished fourth
law of motion which,
in précis, posits big
fish / big pool. I've

decided to leave the
liner where it is,
open it up as
an hotel. The
pelicans are pissed.
  

wednesday newstrip

DoNuts T.®ump encourages Israel to strike Iran’s nuclear sites · the NSW Education Standards Authority has announced that teaching of the Aboriginal past prior to European arrival will be excluded from the Year 7–10 syllabus as of 2027 · A-list star ‘horrified’ as alleged Diddy sex tape gets pushed to media outlets: ‘he feels like he was victimized years ago’ · Sydney woman allegedly killed & dismembered husband in ‘bizarre’ murder case, police say · a scorned Canadian wife has opened up about how she ate her dead husband’s ashes after finding out about his string of affairs · a year into the Israel-Gaza war, the Middle East is on the verge of chaos. How does it end?

While opening the gate

I sometimes wonder
what birds did

before powerlines
were invented.

wednesday newstrip

T.®ump praises Russia's military record in argument to stop funding Ukraine's fight · Murk Suckerbug says Meta AI has nearly 500 million users · fatal stabbing of Japanese schoolboy in China sparks debate on the country's patriotic education · Israeli politicians across spectrum praise assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah · Just Stop Oil protestors arrested after Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers splashed with soup · Australian Broadcasting Corporation crew becomes subject of Russian criminal investigation for crossing border from Ukraine · thousands attended Auckland's Eden Park in an attempt to reclaim the Guinness World Record for the largest haka. The attempt was successful, decisively beating the previous official record of 4028, inexplicably held by France since 2014.

wednesday newstrip

Tupperware files for bankruptcy as its colorful containers lose relevance · ex-porn star tells cops in 2018 he’s Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ alleged sex slave in resurfaced video · sugar prices surge as Brazil's drought & fires tighten global supply · man arrested in Italy nearly 50 years after two Melbourne women found dead in their home · Israel struck a building in Lebanon's capital, Beirut, killing Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil & at least 30 other people, & wounding 66 · a US Secret Service probe found communication gaps & complacency before the July assassination attempt on DoNuts T.®ump · can mouth-taping lead to a better night's sleep? · former Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed a 'monster,' victims' lawyers say · US public schools banned 10,000 books in most recent academic year.

wednesday newstrip

Leader of the Australian Federal Opposition, Putrid Dustbin, to take axe to green groups, turbocharge mining, if his coalition wins the next election · thousands of protesters disrupt Land Forces International Land Defence Exposition, an industry-only trade expo for the defense sector, in Melbourne's CBD · the arrest of Apollo Quiboloy of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ church changes the political landscape of the Philippines · Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters says he has become father of baby girl born ‘outside my marriage’ · Australian breaker Raygun is currently ranked number one in the world · an estimated 67 million viewers across 17 networks watched the Trump-Harris debate according to Nielsen data · Bungie says Destiny 2's future lies in "unusual formats," like "roguelikes or survival shooters."

wednesday newstrip

During his visit to Indonesia, the Pope may have subtly hinted how sin can enter 'through the pocket' · investor who risked it all on Black Myth: Wukong now minting millions · Putain, with a wry smile, says Russia backs Kamala Harris in US election · Hollywood legend Michael Keaton is going back to using his real name, Michael Keaton Douglas · China to build first-ever thorium molten salt nuclear power station in Gobi Desert · Aotearoa New Zealand's next Māori monarch named as Kiingi Tuheitia is buried, placed beside generations of family · Japan may join US marines in northern Australia, strengthening military ties · thousands of Australians are being asked to pay membership fees to general practitioner (GP) clinics to access bulk-billed medical care.

wednesday newstrip

“The growth of Parkinson’s across the world has been called a pandemic — it’s the world’s fastest-growing neurodegenerative disease,” a visiting neurologist tells a crowd of potato farmers. “Many people are under the misunderstanding that it’s a genetic condition. But for the most part, it appears to be mostly environmental.” · Australia's 3G network is shutting down · Surcharges — which cost Australians about $960 million a year, according to a March analysis of Reserve Bank of Australia data by the ABC — are becoming increasingly common across Australia. Some retailers add them to cover the cost of processing a transaction. Surcharges are banned in the United States, Canada, Europe, & Britain · neighbor of nudist resort couple arrested after duo's disappearance · The Pacific Islands Forum has removed references to Taiwan from a communiqué issued on Friday after the region’s annual leaders meeting, after complaints by China’s envoy · Army confirms T.®ump staff 'pushed' Arlington cemetery worker · New Zealand's Māori King Tuheitia dies at 69 after heart surgery.

An introduction; though when finished will be an afterword.

During my trawling through past posts & pages for 100 Titles From Tom Beckett, I rediscovered a January 2013 entry on Tom’s l’amour fou blog. He posted:

Anyway, in a section of Appearances that I'm working on now I list titles of imaginary songs that appear on an imaginary jukebox in an imaginary bar called the Cave, a very special club house for the legendary performance art group Vaudeville without Organs.

A jukebox is a treasure trove of information about the sort of establishment it exists within. Herewith a list, alphabetically sorted, of a few of the song titles in the Cave’s jukebox,

followed by a list of a list of sixteen titles, & a closing message:

Mark, you're welcome to any of these titles if you're looking for some.

I can’t claim not to have seen this post since, in the comments box, is the following:

(from) mark young January 2, 2013 at 2:52 AM
You been a peepin at my wurlitzer again!

Jukeboxes are a shared pleasure. On my side, I’ve lost track of how many times — posts & poems — I’ve referred to those songs that rise unbidden to the surface of what I call my juxebox of the mind. In what is admittedly a very belated response, I’ve begun pushing the buttons on this refound Wurlitzer to see what wonders we can wring from it.

Starting tomorrow, the first poem in the series. The remainder will follow at irregular intervals.

wednesday newstrip

Dying Light: The Beast has way more guns than we expected · Olympic breakdancing controversy ignores sport's cultural roots · ISIL claims responsibility for stabbing attack in Germany’s Solingen · Transgender woman's exclusion from female-only app was unlawful, Australian Federal judge finds · Lily Allen branded an 'awful person' by fans after returning rescue dog · NASA unveils plan to return stranded Boeing Starliner crew to Earth · almost 70,000 Japanese people will die alone this year & with the populaiton rapidly aging it could become much worse · Jackson Hole gathering reveals fresh concern for central bankers · first prisoner swap since Ukraine incursion into Russia sees 115 prisoners released on each side.

A midnight census

In the background the pool 
pump hums. Put clarifier 
in the water, & now it has to
circulate for thirty-six hours
to let the clouding particles 
coalesce.
                 There is a smoke 
smell in the air. Drove around 
over the last few days on roads 
impinged upon by opportunistic 
grasses. A day of rain & they 
grow. A month later they are dry, 
primed for burning. Easier to 
set them alight than mow the 
strip that runs along the road-
side.
          The static geometry of the 
house separates the evening into 
panels. A quintych. Angular, o-
blique. Trees fill in some of the 
gaps, but the most striking are 
those where there are gaps in 
the trees themselves, one in part-
icular, bite-shaped, as if some-
one had tried an apple & then 
abandoned it. Acute.
                                       Touch 
yourself. Only flesh,
which the hand passes 







along the way

cigarettes

coffee

chicken & rice

burnt grass

a tart plum












through as if it wasn’t there.

wednesday newstrip

A charity in New Zealand has mistakenly distributed pineapple sweets laced with a potentially lethal dose of methamphetamine · Israeli leaders condemn settler attacks in West Bank in rare rebuke of violence · Google just released the newest version of its AI image generator · Tasmanian paramedic sacked after callout to woman with ping pong ball stuck in body · Chinese experts have called on Beijing to begin preparations to take over Taiwan "as soon as possible" in the face of a potential DoNuts T.®ump presidency · first case of polio confirmed in a 10-month-old child in Gaza, Palestinian health officials say · brawl erupts in Turkish parliament during debate — leaves at least two lawmakers injured · woman posed as three different people in brazen plot to extort millions from Elvis Presley's family & auction off Graceland.

geographies : Manangatang

She left the train at a station whose name now escapes her ;

wednesday newstrip

Israel's far-right finance minister suggests that the starvation of Gaza’s population of more than 2 million Palestinians "might be just & moral" · New Zealand unlikely to have megaquake, but dangers exist — seismologist · around 100 Palestinians killed in Israeli air strike on school in Gaza, local authorities say · DoNuts T.®ump's campaign says some of its internal communications were hacked, blaming the Iranian government without providing direct evidence · pro-Israeli lobby group United Democracy Project spent more than $14 million on TV advertising targeting the primary of one Democrat Israel critic in Congress & $8 million on another Congress member's primary & succeeded in having them replaced as candidates in the next election · Winda Woppa locals stunned by 'devastating' coastal erosion at Jimmy's Beach.

The Camembert of Time (an early draft from 20 years ago)

To demonstrate the persistence of memory Dali took an ice cube out of the freezer & closed his fingers over it. When he opened them there was a small pool of water in his palm. He said: you remember the piece of ice. I feel its retained coldness & recall some frames from a movie I made with Buñuel. A man’s hand. A hole in it. Ants.

Time is plastic, just like these watches. Why we remember some things & not others is because they come closer to us. The cliffs of Catalonia are static but the ants will eat away at them & eventually they’ll decay. I lie here, unable to remember what I looked like. The painting is about the impermanence of memory, & yet most people who’ve seen it always seem to remember what it looked like.

wednesday newstrip

Iran vows 'severe' revenge after announcing Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed by short-range projectile · Windows 11 24H2 WDDM 3.2 ships with big upgrades for GPU, NPU as Microsoft bets on Copilot · US deploying F-22s to Middle East as Iran seeks revenge on Israel · T.®ump pulls out of debate with K.Harrismatic, wants them to face off on Fox News instead · most chatbots inherently 'left-leaning,' but have capacity to 'learn' bias, study finds · beyond the elation, Putain's prisoner swap has ominous implications · AI is already straining electricity systems – & we’re just at the beginning.

Today the post-
woman brought
me a pasta
maker. My 
heart gave out — 
I'd asked for
a pacemaker.

wednesday newstrip

DoNuts T.®ump tells Christians they ‘won’t have to’ vote again after election · French UFC star claims 'Christianity was humiliated' in Olympic opening ceremony · two children killed & nine injured in stabbing attack at Southport, in England's north-west · Intelligence service says Kim Jong Un preparing daughter Kim Ju Ae to lead North Korea · Victorian mother jailed for forcing daughter to marry man who murdered her six weeks later · Apple TV+ reportedly has spent $30 billion on original films & shows, but gets fewer views in one month than Netflix gets in a day · the Australian Olympic Committee has issued a statement in response to frustration & controversy over its "vegan" focus at the athletes' village · can Kamala’s knitting-obsessed, topless-modeling stepdaughter help her to the presidency?

geographies : Garvoc

 

wednesday newstrip

Penis cancer cases are surging around the world · Chinese authorities say they are investigating contaminated cooking oil issues after local media reports found a major state-owned food company used the same trucks to ship fuel, chemical liquids, & food products to cut costs · T.®ump vows to end Ukraine war in call with Zelenskyy · [2.23.22: T.®ump calls Putain 'genius' & 'savvy' for Ukraine invasion] · the United Nations has released its most recent analysis of world population, which now estimates there will be 700 million fewer people in 2100, 6 per cent less than anticipated a decade ago · RNC booth hosts AR-15 giveaway, days after T.®ump assassination attempt · scammers will pounce on global outage caused by CrowdStrike bug, Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil warns · International Court of Justice rules Israel's presence in occupied Palestinian territories in Gaza, the West Bank, & East Jerusalem is illegal & should end.

wednesday newstrip

Intense winter storm to bring heavy rain, gales, bitter cold, & snow to eastern Australia · report reveals 100,000 Melbourne homes were vacant in 2023 in the midst of a "housing crisis" · JoeKing BidenMyTime reassures supporters 'I'm OK' as Democrats remain split over US election prospects & JKBMT continues on with gaffe after gaffe · DoNuts T.®ump has brutally mocked JKBMT after the President’s gaffe-ridden day at the NATO Summit in Washington · Alec Baldwin's involuntary manslaughter case dismissed in middle of trial & cannot be filed again · T.®ump's critics point out that many psychiatrists believe schadenfreude is a mental illness · Rudely Jeweliani’s bankruptcy case dismissed by NYC judge, clearing way for debt collection & lawsuits · meanwhile, Rudely claims that DoNuts T.®ump owes him about $2 million in unpaid legal fees for helping try to overturn the 2020 election · registered Republican identified as DoNuts T.®ump's potential assassin.

Plaint for the day

I've got gall
stones, kidney
stones, most
every stone

except the
Rolling Stones —
& I'm saving them
for a rainy day.
  

wednesday newstrip

He’s derided as dull but Care (not to) Stammer becomes UK prime minister with a sensational victory · Canberra couple awarded damages after wife awoken by a real estate agent in her bedroom conducting an inspection · 100 feral cats caught in Queenstown Lakes' Rees Valley; group steps up trapping efforts · One Million Checkboxes, a simple online game that invites visitors to click or unclick check boxes, has become an unintentional case study in human behavior · steamy 'Overwatch cabaret club' where you can pay to have women fall asleep on voice chat with you gets obliterated, is immediately replaced by even steamier Apex version · Machete actor Danny Trejo in nasty July 4th brawl after being hit by water balloon.

I cannot attest to the truth of this story,

told to me many years ago at a friend's house by Barry Humphries before he became more famous via his alter-ego Dame Edna Everage.

About being in a bar, in New York, & a drunken Jack Kerouac lookalike came up to him & invited him to a party. He declined the invitation. Was given the address anyway. Discovered about half an hour later that it had, in fact, been Kerouac. Rushed off to the address. Found it to be the premises of a removal company & that the party was taking place in the back of a moving Moving van that had left fifteen minutes earlier & was now out on the road, somewhere, anywhere, in the city.

wednesday newstrip

Israel's bombs flatten parts of South Lebanon village amid fears of wider war · driver hit with $387 fine after mobile camera snaps her holding — a piece of banana bread · US Supreme Court ruling allows cities to ban homeless people from sleeping outdoors · tests show Paris' Seine River still has unsafe E. coli levels with Olympics less than a month away · BidenMyTime crashes, T.®ump lies: a campaign-defining presidential debate · Australia's weather heading off the rails — cold, snowy change followed by possible record 'blocking high' · Internet shocked to hear Paris Hilton’s real voice · & no, (sigh) BidenMy Time didn't fall asleep during debate · was DoNuts T.®ump a king during his presidency? The US Supreme Court thinks so.

geographies: Jeperit

 

wednesday newstrip

MAGA granny admits to grooming teen grandson to believe Democrats worship Satan · nuclear plan put forward by Australian Opposition leader, Putrid Dustbin, could cost as much as $600bn & supply just 3.7% of Australia’s energy by 2050, experts say · Israeli forces tie wounded Palestinian man to a military jeep in an incident a UN expert said amounted to using him as a human shield · a man who terrorised South Australia in a 10-year bank robbing spree has been sentenced to 35 years jail, but will instead take his own life under voluntary assisted dying laws · Philippines says it won't start a war, but won't yield 'to any foreign power' after clash in South China Sea · lost continent 'unlike anything found today' discovered off the coast of Australia · the Museum of Old & New Art (MONA) in Tasmania was found to have discriminated against a man who was refused entry to its women-only ‘Ladies Lounge’ in April 2023, despite paying the museum entry fee · Israel's Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the state must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary into the military, a decree with the potential to divide Prime Minister Beenjammin' NotJustAnyYahoo's governing coalition.

Today the post-
woman brought
me a brochure
from EARWAX—
extinct animal 
resurrection with 

academic expertise—
suggesting that if 
I donated both
money & a sample 
of my DNA they 
might be able 

to bring back 
the Amazonian 
smilodon. I de-
clined. Now if it 
had have been 
the mastodon. . .

wednesday newstrip

China-Australia relations 'back on track', says Chinese Premier Li Qiang · a remarkable group of Aussies stationed in Antarctica will celebrate the Winter Solstice in a very bold way, by swimming in freezing waters between -5 & -25 degrees celsius · Internet could be worsening our fear of small holes, psychologists say · ‘I need your help saving koalas’: Australians band together to build wildlife corridors · new Australian market research suggests the so-called 'bank of mum & dad' could be closing for business … despite its best intentions · old fools caught raiding Groper Creek for mud crabs.

wednesday thursday newstrip

Australian Opposition leader, Putrid Dustbin, is to pull Australia out of the Paris Agreement, & bring in nuclear power if his right-wing coalition wins the next election · Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has suffered a light whiplash injury after she was assaulted by a man in central Copenhagen, her office has said · grim scenes at Aldi as snow gear overflows "Special Buys" shelves bedcause it appears there's little snow this year · security experts have raised alarm over the vulnerability of older iPhone models, warning users with "outdated" tech are now more vulnerable to cyberattacks · survey reveals Australians distrust China & are losing faith in United States · don't know much about the clitoris? The International Cliteratti will help.

Now out from Otoliths

Otoliths has just released 100 Titles From Tom Beckett — Poems by Mark Young, Paintings by Thomas Fink, & with an Afterword by Tom Beckett.

Mark Young & Thomas Fink
100 Titles From Tom Beckett
full color
152 pages
ISBN: 978-0-6455483-3-4
$US37.75
Direct URL: https://www.lulu.com/shop/mark-young-and-thomas-fink/100-titles-from-tom-beckett/paperback/product-nvwzp98.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Tom Beckett's list was challenging. Sure there were some straightforward titles; but when you're confronted by 'Some of America’s Finest Malapropisms Stagger into a Bar' or 'He hadn’t Always Wanted to be Somebody’s Girl' or 'The Nine Stages of the Decomposition of a Corpse.' it's definitely time to kick into overdrive.

Add to that a common comment on my poetry is many of my titles have little relevance to the poems that accompany them. That is something I could not allow to happen here. Instead, the poems had to pay their respect, homage even, to the title that gave them birth.

I think I have done that successfully. &, helped along by the paintings from Thomas Fink, given me a collection of which I am most proud.
— Mark Young


Mark Young’s insightful, laser-sharp new poems in 100 Titles From Tom Beckett invite paradox and chance to dance with the sparks and echoes of Tom Beckett’s hilarious, downtempo titles and Tom Fink’s paintings of spreading fractals and swirling ropes of color. Young’s humor and pathos sprinkled with inkblots of bathos illuminate this book. His magnetic fields tease the push/pull levers of constraint and release. “I seem to be attracted / to things that do not exist, no / beginning, no end. Non-end - // ities, if you like, until negated / which then creates them.” Young’s poems often playfully reflect upon their own development and diversion as they proceed, exposing an openness to process at each turn of phrase. It is a pure delight to see Young, Beckett, and Fink – three master poets in their own right – join hands in the creative adventure of this marvelously generous work.
— Charles Borkhuis, author of *Rearview Mirror*


Reading 100 Titles From Tom Beckett makes me recall something I’ve sometimes thought about Mark Young’s poems: if all words created a block, the poet made poems by chiseling some of them out to fall randomly on the floor; the poet then assembled the words into lines and poems surface through a music created by breath and syllablic rhythm. These poems then are unique in that Mark volunteers that he actually tried to make his poems relate to the titles given by Tom Beckett. And yet the leap between title and text is not (always) linear, might be considered opaque in some cases, so that the reader's freedom of response is not diminished. What’s relevant to me is seeing how Beckett’s titles are such strong muses for Young’s poems. These poems present the play of brotherhood, as affirmed by Thomas Fink’s paintings where colors and shapes effect a harmony that couldn’t have been anticipated by each individual element before the painter joined them. Poems can be created through a multitude of ways and these results indicate the generative effect of affectionate brotherhood, while affirming that poetry succeeds by creating relationships and connections.
— Eileen R. Tabios


[Lulu has a 15% discount — promo code BOOKGOALS15 — running this week until Friday night. Promo codes for future weeks can be found each Monday at the Lulu Press Facebook page.https://www.facebook.com/Luludotcom/]

Today the post-
woman brought
me the latest 

issue of Conspiracy 
Theory Quarterly 
in its plain alfoil 

wrapper. I waved 
to the spy satellite 
as I carried it in.
  

wedneday newstrip

Speaking outside the court after being convicted on 34 charges of falsifying business records, DoNuts T.®ump said he had been subject to a "rigged trial" by a "corrupt" judge, without providing any evidence to back up those claims · idiotic man fined for trying to 'body slam' orca off New Zealand coast · breast implant removals on the rise in Australia as researchers study health issues · Hellblade II tips for mastering the game’s visceral combat · accusations that DoNuts T.®ump has taken advantage of taxpayers by overcharging for lodging & travel for his Secret Service detail are once again being raised · ABBA receive Swedish knighthood for pop career that started at Eurovision · the ANC party that freed South Africa from apartheid loses its 30-year majority in landmark election.

The Wizard of Idiosyncrasy

 

wednesday newstrip

Kid Rock pulls gun out, praises his "bestie" DoNuts T.®ump, & uses ‘racial slurs’ in trainwreck interview wuth a Rolling Stone journalist · Singapore Airlines flight hits severe turbulence with multiple injuries & a death reported. Turbulence, which has already increased by 55% in the past 40 years because of the impact of climate change, is projected to increase even further in the future · Norway, Ireland, & Spain say they are recognizing Palestine as a state · Google has updated its search engine with an AI tool — but the new feature has reportedly told users to eat rocks, add glue to their pizzas, & clean their washing machines with chlorine gas · a 16-year-old who overdosed after receiving three prescriptions for addictive drugs in the days before his death had received 64 prescriptions from 31 doctors in the preceeding months · an Australian mother of five is facing the death penalty after she was accused of smuggling 7kg of drugs into Taiwan.

dia∧critical questions #79142 & #79143

Is failing to

add an acute a

grave mistake?

  -

Is falling into

a grave an

acute misstep?

wednesday newstrip

Chinese zoo's 'panda' display found to feature dogs dyed black & white · swarms of noisy bugs are now starting to cover parts of the United States · Rudy Julie's Aunty claims he was booted from radio station because of 'trailer trash little creep' Joe BidenMyTime · a softly-spoken former bank clerk has become Putain's new mouthpiece, three years after she was released from a Virginia jail for drug smuggling · conscription is back on the cards for millions of teenagers in Germany · video portal allowing people from New York City & Dublin to interact in real-time goes horribly wrong · 'Hinky septic tank' of 'skeezeballs': devastating NY Times attack skewers T.®ump hangers-on.

65,000 years of history at the Venice Biennale

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-12/archie-moore-venice-biennale-up-close/103789292

recently, at Series Magritte

Les Pierreries

So much alike as 
we peer from the
box we could 
pass as brothers. 

But what’s in a 
box is often more 
than just contain-
ment, what reso-

nates can be more 
than beauty is. Gems 
we might some-
times be referred 

to as; but what 
other facets will
be displayed when  
the lid is lifted?

wednesday newstrip

Hellblade II is very nearly upon us, & the system requirements have just been rereleased. You'll need, as per the table of specs, at least an Intel i5-8400/AMD Ryzen 5 2600 or equivalent CPU coupled with a NVIDIA GTX 1070/AMD RX 5700/Intel Arc A580 with 6GB VRAM to play the game on its “Low” preset at 1080p as a minimum experience, while pushing the game to its limits on “High” settings at a full 4K will require in the ballpark of an Intel i5-12600K/AMD Ryzen 7 5700X & NVIDIA RTX 4080/AMD RX 7900 XTX · new SARS-CoV-2 KP.2 variant defies vaccines with higher spread, study warns · a Queensland mother has shared her shock after finding a note about her newborn baby in her letter box that “left her in tears”.

a couple of recently released free downloadable pdfs,

one old work, one new.

eNumerations

I have just completed the preliminary draft for a forthcoming book, 100 Titles From Tom Beckett, & preparing the introduction led me to 'A List for Tom Beckett,' a poem I had written in 2006, & which had first appeared on this blog.

The surrounding text indicated that I had decided to include this list poem in a then-current project, Enumerations or eNumerations — it seems like I hadn't yet decided on a final title. So I sought out what else I could find from this project, & this pdf is a result of that search.

Only a fraction of it seems to have since seen the light of day. 'A List for Tom Beckett' later appeared in Word For/Word; five of the poems were included as 'New Poems' in my 2008 selected Pelican Dreaming: Poems 1959 – 2008; & I'm fairly certain that something may have appeared in one of Jukka-Pekka Kervinen's zines. Apart from that . . .

It's a bit of a mishmash. Visuals that seemed aligned to what I was trying to do, found spam, straight poems, code, output from the late Leevi Lehto's poem generator. But I find what I was trying to do at the time, & how that has since been refined, informative.

So, with thanks to harry k stammer for hosting it at Sandy Press, I present what I hope will be an interesting piece of past.

https://www.sandy-press.com/blog/enumerations-mark-young/


to your scattered bodies go

A collection of 50 poems from the past 12 or so months.

Because I've got two "big" books coming out later this year — the aforementioned 100 Titles From Tom Beckett, & the 600+ page The Magritte Poems — I decided to do a free downloadable pdf instead of my usual annual collection of recent poems. It's published by Scud Editions, who are also home to the companion Scud, one of my favorite journals to publish in, but not as well-known as it should be.

https://scudlit.blogspot.com/p/editions.html

wednesday newstrip

Sumatran orangutan becomes first wild animal seen using medicinal plant to treat wound · a neighborhood fish’n’chip shop in a small Manawatū town in New Zealand, trading as Popeye’s for at least 20 years, has bowed to the legal threats of US fried chicken giant Popeye’s, forsaking its name · Mexican authorities say three bodies have been found in an area where two Australian brothers & their American travel companion are missing · ex-DoNuts T.®ump aide Hope Hicks tells court the former US prissygent asked her to deny affair with Stormy Daniels · undercover police lured businessman to New Zealand before $1.5b cocaine bust · Bruce Willis 'is doing OK' amid dementia battle.

Today the post-
woman brought
me a serious
dose of para-
noia. I thought
long & hard 
about leaving it
at room temper-

ature, but finally
decided to keep 
it chilled until I
could celebrate
people stopping
talking about me.

Today the post-
woman brought

me an invitation
to nominate 

my favorite 
Impressionist

painting. What to
pick? I've been

weighing up the
crows & ponds.

wednesday newstrip

Plastic surgeons warn 'Ozempic face' has taken over Hollywood · scientists have finally discovered whether the chicken or the egg came first · Sky News host Liz Storer has praised DoNuts T.®ump for being a "jolly good" president & a "walking, talking comic" · Nancy Pelosi calls for NotJustAnyahoo to resign as she slams his "terrible" actions in Gaza · more than 150 pilot whales have been saved from stranding on a beach in Western Australia's southwest, but 31 have died · Putain ditches victory parades over fears soldiers will be hit by kamikaze drone · Monicker Lewinsky trolls Bill Clintoris with a Taylor Swift reference · Karen the adored ostrich dies after swallowing zoo staff member’s keys.

wednesday false news trip

BidenMyTime said he would leave office if he can't pass cognitive test · a deadly contagion known as Disease X is emerging · the number of voters registering without a photo ID is skyrocketing in 3 key swing states: Arizona, Texas, & Pennsylvania, evidence that migrants who entered the country illegally are registering to vote · Israel said that the deaths of seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen in the Gaza Strip were caused by a roadside bomb planted by Hamas · Washington state passed a bill that will incentivize people to report hate speech & bias on a 24/7 hotline with a cash reward · a Fargo, North Dakota, man was arrested for clearing snow with a flamethrower · former US president DoNuts T.®ump faces criminal charges for taking out a loan & paying it back.

wednesday newstrip

Marjorie Taylor Greene claims New York City's recent earthquake was God telling America to 'repent' · Fox host vexed by BidenMyTime’s good job numbers finds a solution – give the credit to T.®ump · McDonald's to buy back 225 franchised outlets in Israel after it was criticized for giving away thousands of free meals to Israeli soldiers · Robert F. Kennedy Jr. retracts false statement that no J6 rioters carried weapons · Italian island giving away its goats after numbers overwhelm human population · army of ladybugs deployed in Darwin to combat exotic papaya mealybug infestation · former president DoNuts T.®ump has privately said he could end Russia’s war in Ukraine by pressuring Ukraine to give up some territory.

wednesday newstrip

DoNuts T.®ump believed Nepal was part of India — & he thought it was pronounced 'nipple' · US firm AT&T says data of 73 million customers leaked on ‘dark web’ · India bans Australian Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts on Sikh separatist killing · ex-T.®ump adviser says former president 'hasn’t got the brains' for dictatorship · 2022 video shows California police fatally shooting teenager who was reported kidnapped · Truth Social shares go into freefall after investors learn how much money it really makes · Botswana offers to send 20,000 elephants to Germany · Helldivers 2 players finally liberate Malevelon Creek, aka 'Robot Vietnam'.

wednesday newstrip

At least 12 Palestinians drown trying to retrieve 'useless' aid parcels dropped into sea · family group charged with stealing $16,000 worth of groceries from an Auckland supermarket, walking out with six trolleys full of goods · a viral video is claiming to show the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse from a large explosion; the video actually shows an explosion on Kerch bridge between Crimea & Russia in 2022 · also in New Zealand, Gisborne's rainbow crossing has been restored after a protest group linked with Destiny Church covered it over in white paint in protest of a drag event · Moscow has vowed to build two entire new armies before the end of the year amid fears President Putain is planning an eventual strike against Europe · Prince Harry named in $30m sex abuse lawsuit against Sean 'Diddy' Combs.

Today the post-
woman brought
me the macaw
I'd ordered

off the internet.
Caveat emptor —
I got sent a
Scottish crow.

geographies: Longerenong

 

wednesday newstrip

Man dies after falling from hot-air balloon in Melbourne’s north · Putain has no successor, no living rivals & no retirement plan – his eventual death will set off a vicious power struggle · Uber to pay Australian taxi operators $272 million in class action settlement · Sharon Stone names co-star she was told she had to sleep with to ‘save’ a movie · billion-dollar deal to supply Australian-made Boxer military vehicles to Germany signed · first patient of Elongated Muskrat's Neuralink brain chip implant demonstrates playing online chess with his mind · DoNuts T.®ump has promised to "root out" what he called "radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie & steal & cheat on elections".

headline & response

Whatever, Thor.

wednesday newstrip

Swept away: $500,000 sand dune built to protect US homes in Massachusetts disappears in days · McDonald’s restaurants hit by technology outage at outlets across Australia · vote against T.®ump, former supporters urge in $50m video campaign · Pandemic PPE: how Australia entrusted a small-time retailer with $100m & got 46m unusable masks · Covid-19: U.K. Government writes off £10bn on unusable, overpriced, or undelivered PPE · fury as waste disposal firms are given £35million of taxpayers' money to burn unused PPE · the Australian Tax Office is reviving old tax debts totalling billions, threatening some taxpayers with bankruptcy · Love Lies Bleeding stars Kristen Stewart in a blood-splattering revenge tale that is already queer heart-throb canon.

wednesday newstrip

South-east Australia to bake in near-record heat while cyclone threat returns to north · as Gaza teeters on the brink of famine, Israeli girls drink water & try to block aid trucks at the border · Tasmanian dumpster divers tell supermarket prices inquiry about 'massive' food waste · Irish referendums: voters reject changes to family & care definition in the constitution · ‘Not good enough’: Australian Federal Minister lashes Meta as losses rise from scams on Facebook · a video of three children with their wrists cabled-tied together was taken in Broome, Western Australia, earlier this week, & sparked national outrage.

rare bits

wednesday newstrip

Out-of-control wildfires scorch Texas Panhandle, prompt shutdown of nuclear weapons facility · T.®ump's claim of being a 'prophet' appears to be a sign of his 'mental disorder' · University of Florida terminating all diversity, equity & inclusion positions · changes around Māori language come into focus as New Zealand government approaches 100-day milestone · thousands defy Kremlin to attend Navalny’s funeral · Haiti violence: gangs free 4,000 inmates in mass jailbreak · new RMIT, CDU study finds cannabis has 'deadly' effect on melanomas in laboratory · proposed class action lawsuit accuses Apple of monopolizing cloud storage for its devices · controversial pro-life society at University of Manchester founded by a male president who 'opposes abortion' shares photo of its first official meeting after the event was met by thousands of protesters · DoNuts T.®ump suffered his first loss in a GOP 2024 primary on Sunday, & he didn't take it very well.

Ruby Tuesday

A couple of notices.

Have a chapbook, Melancholy, out from SurVision Books.

(Cover image by Victoria Chernyakhivska)
Available at http://www.survisionmagazine.com/jamestateprizewinners.htm.
Price €7.50 plus postage.

*
At Dichtung Yammer, Thomas Fink has an exchange with me about "A line from Mick Jagger," a poem included in my recent Ley Lines II, out from Sandy Press & available through Amazon.

Mick Jagger seems quite excited about it.

Don't ask why

because I have no idea, but Ogden Nash is running around in my head this morning.

I think that I shall never see
A billboard lovely as a tree.
Indeed, unless the billboards fall
I'll never see a tree at all.

(&, in passing, I never knew, or perhaps had forgotten, that Joyce Kilmer was a guy.)

wednesday newstrip

Kilt-wearing pervert is arrested after going into antique stores & shoving items up his rectum before placing them 'back on the shelf for display' · Victorian man vanishes after receiving about $500,000 in cryptocurrency account error · DoNuts T.®ump wins South Carolina Republican presidential primary beating out the state's former governor Nikki HailMary · Australia is condemned as a 'police state' after Americans notice unusual detail at Taylor Swift's sold-out concert in Sydney · China's new patriotic education law targets its people living overseas, but is law possible to be enforced in Australia? · Ukraine war: Zelensky says 31,000 troops killed since Russia's full-scale invasion · NotJustanyahoo: Cease-fire would only delay Rafah invasion 'somewhat.'

Now out from Otoliths

Otoliths has just released my un saut de chat.

Mark Young
un saut de chat
b&w
118 pages
ISBN: 978-0-6455483-2-7
$US17.45
Direct URL: https://www.lulu.com/shop/mark-young/un-saut-de-chat/paperback/product-v8k9n2k.html?page=1&pageSize=4

“I’m a couple of years into my ninth decade, & have decided it’s time to tidy a few things up, specifically creating some trope-based collections, rather than collections of recent work.

“Retrospectively, my Ley Lines II that came out in November 2023 from Sandy Press should probably be considered the first collation: a single trope (‘A line from . . .’), a significant number of poems (just under 100), & written over a number of years (2014-2021).

“un saut de chat is composed primarily of prose poems, with some found poems & a few ficciones included. There are around 140 pieces in the book, from the past twenty years. I feel, displayed this way, that it gives greater insight into thematic aspects of my work that are not so easy to discern otherwise.

“The next book in this loose grouping will be my entire Magritte poems, all twenty years of them. It will probably come in at around 600 pages, & be ready for printing around the end of the year.”


[Lulu have discounts running during the week. Promo codes for the current week can be found each Monday at the Lulu Press Facebook page.]

wednesday newstrip

DoNuts T.®ump must pay $US355 milllion in penalties, barred from NY business for three years, judge rules · key event in Sydney Mardi Gras calendar scrapped over asbestos mulch concerns · fake alligators at Riverview Park in Mesa, AZ., fooling people into calling emergency services · Federal politicians pass motion urging US & UK to allow Julian Assange's return to Australia · Kristen Stewart stripped down for the most recent cover of Rolling Stone last weeek, posing with her hand inside a jockstrap · getting the brush-off: First Nations artists walk away from Brisbane Portrait Prize over AI · jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny dead at 47, region's prison service says · DoNuts T.®ump again threatens to sacrifice NATO allies to Russia.

wednesday newstrip

Israeli prime minister rejects Hamas cease-fire offer, vows to fight until 'absolute victory' · Woolworths responds to mud cake outrage after ‘final straw’ for Aussie shoppers · Pink is partnering with PEN America to distribute 2,000 banned books at her shows in South Florida, CNN reports · Taylor Swift has issued a cease & desist to a Florida college student who uses public data & social media to track her private jet · Sydney motorist ordered to surrender 'OCT7TH' personalized number plates · World Surf League spits on greatest ever surfer Carissa Moore after Lexus Pipe Pro exit · Notjustanyahoo tells Israeli army to prepare to evacuate Rafah before invasion to destroy Hamas — but where can 1.5 million Palestinians go?

Today the post-
woman brought
me a fart in a

jar. Damn that
voice recognition
AI software—I'd 

asked for a jam 
tart to go with my
morning coffee.

wednesday newstrip

A woman wearing what appears to be leather lingerie has been charged with drink driving following a collision with an e-bike in Sydney’s Moore Park overnight · BidenMyTime called T.®ump the 'sitting President' during January 2024 speech · Lowitja O’Donoghue, celebrated campaigner for Aboriginal Australians, dies aged 91 · Victorian police chief labels protesters who confronted police taking part in a Pride march 'an ugly rabble' · King Charles has reportedly given his blessing to Prince Andrew & Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, to remarry each other · rallies held in support of offshore wind farms as Newcastle, Wollongong residents hopeful of job opportunities · Australian academic Yang Hengjun given suspended death sentence by Chinese court.

Waitangi Day

https://theconversation.com/waitangi-day-2024-5-myths-and-misconceptions-that-confuse-the-treaty-debate-221973

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/has-this-years-waitangi-day-reached-flashpoint-maori-voices-speak-out/qr5ct96je

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-06/maori-protesters-nz-clash-with-nz-prime-minister-waitangi-day/103421202

wednesday newstrip

Australia must consider bringing back conscription as ‘all-out war’ with Russia looms, expert says · NotJustAnyahoo is defiant after UN court ruling, says Israel presses offensive for 'complete victory' · Rip Curl joins Australian swimwear companies in heavy pivot to growing trans market · women over 50 are the new gamers · Pram Minister Anthony Overeasy has been booed by the crowd at the Australian Open tennis men's final · North Korean leader Kim supervises tests of cruise missiles designed to be fired from submarines · activists throw soup at Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa in the Louvre in climate protest.

What AI is up to these days

aka The six-fingered demon who wants to rule the world.

Today the post-
woman brought
me Tropical Cy-
clone Kirrily. I
was blown away.

wednesday newstrip

Israeli Prime Minister BeenJammin’ NotJustAnyahoo rejects US calls for Palestinian state after Gaza war · Māori leaders & others in New Zealand attend a rare national meeting called by the Māori King due to concerns about the new government’s policies on indigenous rights · ex UK Prom Minister Bore-us Johnson says T.®ump back in White House is ‘what the world needs’ · Microsoft discovers state-backed Russian hackers accessed emails of some senior employees · Palworld, aka ‘Pokémon With Guns,’ is tearing up the steam & twitch charts · Jodie Foster is showing us all how to age naturally.

waiting in the wings

We're the red X.

Today the post-
woman brought
me a leporidae
farm. It had

been beautifully
maintained,
not a hare
out of place.

wednesday newstrip

Former New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern ties the knot with Clarke Gayford, as anti-vaxxers picket the wedding · Australian students handed ‘wellbeing shots’ made by subsidiary of British American Tobacco · DoNuts T.®ump returns to court for new E Jean Carroll trial – & it could prove costly · recovering the ‘Aryan worldview’: the Western Australian book publisher under scrutiny over far-right texts · console owners played more Fortnite than GTA V & Call Of Duty combined · “Chicest” is not a proper word, would not even be the best word to suit your intended meaning &, most of all, it's just such an ugly word · UN says Gaza war 'staining humanity' on eve of 100th day as Houthis vow to retaliate against US strike.

Now Out From Otoliths

Otoliths has just released David Jalajel’s Snapshots from the Ark.

David Jalajel
Snapshots from the Ark
b&w
illustrated
138 pages
ISBN: 978-06455483-1-0
$US17.95
Direct URL: https://www.lulu.com/shop/david-jalajel/snapshots-from-the-ark/paperback/product-655yzjy.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Until midnight this Friday, Lulu have a 10% discount running. Promo code: SNOWDAY10. Promo codes for future weeks can be found each Monday at the Lulu Press Facebook page.

Here is a bestiary with a weird taxonomy of “Dead Ducks”, “Dead Dinos” and “Dead Bugs”, describing the bizarre relationships people have with the animals it catalogues. Partially inspired by player mechanics involving video game animals, the relationships portrayed are exploitative, often abusive and always focus on people’s needs and concerns.

Snapshots from the Ark takes John Shoptaw’s maxim that “[h]uman interests cannot be the be-all and end-all of an ecopoem” and turns it on its head by taking human interests as the “nature” poet’s single-minded concern. Each poem zeroes in on a different way people act as if their interests are all that matter. The animals are opportunities to present unflattering and painful portraits of our worst anthropocentric tendencies.

So are they ecopoems? By holding a mirror way too close to our noses, they show us the ugliness of acting with indifference to the creatures who share the world with us. In this way, the poems raise our awareness about the consequences of our actions. Yet, they do so while being zany and fun, like when people clear-cut a forest using a giant crab that whacks down trees with dinosaurs clasped in its claws.

These poems unsettle us, make us uncomfortable, challenge the way we think, and hopefully inspire us to change the way we behave.

     — Flamur Vehapi, from his review on Otoliths

Blurbs

We live in a post-Ark world. And said world’s a bit (or more) messed up. But why would we think the messed-up world that caused the flood would be different after the floodwaters recede? Humanity is… humanity, nothing more and nothing less. David Jalajel’s Snapshots from the Ark is but a metaphor for that comprehension, except that it contains humour. The poet is wise to understand how one of the most effective weapons against evil is humour, and such is also what makes these poems worthwhile:

It has the dead-eyed stare of someone
who’s seen death and lived to tell the tale —

Plus it’s Scottish. And it grins up at you
like a little boy seeing his first pair of boobs.

     — Eileen R. Tabios

Imagine that David Jalajel were in Noah’s shoes, receiving instructions from the deity to form an ark of “gopherwood” covered “inside and outside with pitch” (Genesis 6:14) in which to place pairs of species. We would soon learn the who’s who of beings to be rescued from the ensuing flood: survivors, sea monsters, dead dinos, dead beasts, dead ducks, dragons, and dead bugs. How fitting that David Jalajel employs couplets mirroring the pairs. Each poem speaks to the reader in conversational tone with clarity, caveats, and hilarity. “Ammonite” begins:

That sucker’s
a total crybaby

Just give it
a good slap—

And from “Pegomastax”:

If you see one of these, aim it at
the nearest national bank and run.

They say the perfect pegomastax
can steal your credit card details.

Snapshots from the Ark is a brilliantly envisioned work encompassing all manner of life lessons from observing each being.

     — Sheila E. Murphy

Today the post-
woman brought
me a mid-
life crisis

& a Ferrari
in a color that
matched my
blood’s hot eyes.
  

wednesday newstrip

Israel's Prime Minister BeenJammin’ NotJustAnyahoo says military seeks full control of Gaza-Egypt border · heiress to the L’Oreal cosmetics throne becomes first woman to amass $100 billion · Kanye West’s Aussie wife Bianca Censori ‘laid the smackdown’ before his shock apology after a series of anti-Semitic tirades · Australia went to war in Iraq based on ‘oral reports’ to cabinet from then Pram Minister John Howard · new Queensland dangerous dog law won’t have enough bite, claims RSPCA · nearly 200 names linked to Jeffrey Epstein expected to be made public · the phallus on a prominent Māori sculpture in Te Āpiti – Manawatū Gorge has been cut off by vandals, shocking the stakeholders of the popular reserve.

wednesday newstrip

Apple has been barred from selling one of its best known products amid claims it stole the technology from a much smaller company · Israeli minister hints at retaliatory actions taken in Iraq, Yemen, Iran · Chinese chess champion stripped of title after defecating in hotel bathtub, alleged anal beads cheating · The New York Times sued ChatGPT-maker OpenAI & Microsoft in a US court on Wednesday, alleging that the companies' powerful AI models used millions of articles for training without permission · a frustrated regional council in Western Australia has erected signs warning drivers against using Google maps after GPS-based directions repeatedly sent travelers down unsafe roads · Maine bars DoNuts T.®ump from ballot as US Supreme Court weighs state authority to block former prissygent.