Today the post-
woman brought
me the auto-
biography of 

a proofreader, 
entitled My 
Life in Correct- 
ional Services.

The River

 

wednesday newstrip

India blames accidental firing of missile into Pakistan on 'technical malfunction' · forget mammoths, study shows how to resurrect Christmas Island rats · Russia denies cosmonauts wearing yellow were supporting Ukraine · Soulja Boy defends Kanye West & threatens Pete Davidson “Nobody Talk To Ye Like That But Me” · US study shows SUVs, pickups hit pedestrians more often than cars do · CryptoRom Bitcoin swindlers continue to target vulnerable iPhone & Android users · Ingenuity Mars Helicopter faces toughest challenge yet as it helps look for traces of life on Mars · William & Kate cancel Caribbean event amid 'anti-colonialism' protests.

geographies: Dookie

 

wednesday newstrip

US man who received a pig heart transplant has died two months after the ground-breaking procedure · Kelly Clarkson to pay ex $158K a month in spousal support · Big Tobacco joins Russia exodus after backlash · wormholes help resolve black hole information paradox · Chinese nickel giant Tsingshan may lose billions · Gender Pay Gap Bot calls out brands tweeting about International Women's Day while paying women less than men · Japan schools ban ponytails because they could 'sexually excite' male students · Saudi Arabia executes 81 men in one day in largest mass execution in decades · Grimes ditching Elon Musk for Chelsea Manning has the internet questioning reality.

wednesday newstrip

Vlad ‘The Impaler’ Putain says Western sanctions on Moscow 'akin to declaration of war' · Paris Jackson calls out doctors prescribing ‘addictive medications like candy’ · in a wild turn of events, bull ant venom could treat long-term pain · a case of Axial Spondyloarthritis triggered by SARS-CoV-2 infection · abandoned rocket hits Moon at 9,300kph · NSW Premier says thousands of homes deemed uninhabitable as state continues floods clean-up · US Military announces plans for satellite orbiting the Moon · AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX: 64C/128T @ 4.5GHz is coming soon · sparkles, unity, & messages of equality as COVID-weary Sydney welcomes Mardi Gras.

Stop the world. I want to get off.

 

A song for our times

wednesday newstrip

Former US prissygent DoNuts T.®ump labels Russian tactics in Ukraine as 'genius' · magpies have outwitted scientists by helping each other remove tracking devices · Iyanka bares her legs in a blue mini dress for date night with Jarred · NZ coroner asked to consider if police were 'confrontational & aggressive' to victims of Christchurch mosque attack · Australian grain prices set to rise as Russian invasion of Ukraine disrupts global supplies · astronomers identify real-life planet with two suns – like Tatooine from Star Wars · lack of association between pandemic chilblains & SARS-CoV-2 infection · Russian invasion of Ukraine drives up energy costs & Australians will feel the pain.

recently, at Series Magritte

Intimate Journal


& on the sixth day She
remade man in their own
image, after their own
likeness, but with minor

differences. The one to
carry a briefcase, & the
other a clean handker-
chief, so that he could

remove the small chips 
of stone that would in-
evitably catch in the eye 
when tears didn't come.

Blue Balled

 

Today the post-
woman brought
me a letter I
had written in
reply to a letter
I had earlier
written to my-
self. I was so
disappointed to
find nothing
new in it. 

wednesday newstrip

Authorities in New Zealand have been playing Barry Manilow’s greatest hits, along with the Macarena, in an attempt to dislodge anti-vaccine mandate protesters camped outside the parliament building · dog kennel hit by meteor could fetch up to $420,000 at auction · flourishing plants show warming Antarctica undergoing ‘major change’ · third person apparently cured of HIV using novel stem cell transplant · New Zealand passes law banning conversion therapy, fulfilling Jacinda Ardern's election promise · US police find young girl alive hidden under secret staircase room after having been missing for two years · fish talk more than you think—mostly about food & sex · Nicole Kidman's Vanity Fair cover leaves fans 'shocked': 'WTF is this?'

geographies: Kanagulk

 

wednesday newstrip

Biohybrid fish made from human cardiac cells swims like heart beats · French discoverer of AIDS-causing human immunodeficiency virus, Luc Montagnier, dies at 89 · household cost of living in Aotearoa rises 5.2% - Stats NZ · spillover of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant infection detected in white-tailed deer in New York · koala listed as endangered after Australian governments fail to halt its decline · solar storm wrecks 40 brand new SpaceX Starlink satellites · Russia's Vladimir Putin kept France's Emmanuel Macron at a distance for snubbing COVID demands · Sir Peter Jackson is the highest paid entertainer in the world, according to Forbes' Rich List · Papua New Guinea's hospitals are on the brink of collapse, with no money, limited supplies, & patients in dire need.

geographies: Watchem

 

wednesday newstrip

A vid of MGK making predatory comments about 17 y.o. Kendall Jenner has resurfaced & fkn yikes · Australian business man Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest launches legal action against Facebook over scam ads · 'The Enigma': billion-year-old black diamond 'from outer space' to go under the hammer · Pamela Anderson vows to 'never watch' new series Pam & Tommy: 'It's shocking that they are recreating it' · NASA details plan to retire ISS in 2030 & deliberately crash it into the Pacific Ocean · four senior aides to BoreUs SandStone have resigned from Downing Street within hours of each other amid growing pressure on the Prom Sinister · Mark Suckerburger loses estimated US$28.8 billion as Meta shares crash · New Zealand man lived on white bread to qualify for home loan, then had his pre-approval yanked anyway.

The print parts of Otoliths #64 are now available

The print parts of Otoliths issue sixty-four are now available from The Otoliths Storefront at Lulu. The Lulu Promo code up until Friday this week is 20FOR20 which gives a 20% discount.

Part one, the b&w part of issue sixty-four of Otoliths, contains poems, short stories, book reviews, concrete poems, extracts from a novel, translations, drawings, vispo, & things overlapping & in between, by R L Swihart, Heath Brougher, Jim Leftwich, Alyssa Gillespie, Sanjeev Sethi, Nathan Anderson, Mary Cresswell, Craig Cotter, Andrew Stys, Nathan Whiting, Clara B. Jones, George Moore, Joanna Walkden Harris & Pete Spence, Pete Spence (poems), Alan Catlin, Steve Carll, Richard Magahiz & John W. Sexton, Lynn Strongin, Van Whitman, Cameron Morse, David Jalajel. Tom Beckett, Jonel Abellanosa. Jon Wesick, Jack Galmitz, Joseph Salvatore Aversano, Joel Chace, Ruth Lepson, Ric Carfagna, Michael J. Leach, Jeremy Scott, Aysegul Yildirim, Jürgen O. Olbrich & Francisco Gálvez, Eric Hoffman, Les Wicks, Bob Kotyk, Pete Spence (vispo), Joe Balaz, John M. Bennett, Jeff Harrison, Vernon Frazer, Hrishikesh Srinivas, Sutanuka Ghosh Roy, Réka Nyitrai, James Grabill, Mark Danowsky, Austin Alexis. Seth Howard, Anna Cates, DS Maolalai, Tony Beyer, Harvey Huddleston, Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad, Christopher Barnes, Patrick Sweeney, Jon Cone. Charles Freeland, Angelo 'NGE' Colella, Susan Gangel, Daniel Barbiero, Betty Baxter, Penelope Weiss, Jeff Bagato, Bob Heman, Keith Nunes, Eileen R. Tabios, Joshua Martin, J. D. Nelson, Danni Storm, Jane Simpson, Sheila E. Murphy, Bob Lucky, Emmett Lewis, Paul Pfleuger, Jr., & Peter Yovu.

326 pages
Price: $US19.75
Direct link: https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/mark-young/otoliths-issue-sixty-four-part-one/paperback/product-zq5dkw.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Part two, the full color part of issue sixty-four of Otoliths, contains paintings, essays, photographs, vispo, asemics, visual pwoermds, and poems by Christian ALLE, Cecelia Chapman, Jim Leftwich, Edward Lee, Elaine Woo, Demosthenes Agrafiotis, Jennifer Weigel, KJ Hannah Greenberg, Rhys Trimble, Grzegorz Wróblewski, Texas Fontanella, Diana Magallón, Robyn Groth, Dave Read, Carol Stetser, Randee Silv, József Bíró, Daniel de Culla, Amrita Tandon, Rosella Quintini, Joe Balaz, Joe Balaz & Mary Ellen Derwis, Diana Magallón & Jeff Crouch, John M. Bennett, Ioan Bunus & John M. Bennett, Mindaugas Žuromskas & John M. Bennett, Keith McKay, John Levy, Judith Skillman, hiromi suzuki, Andrew Topel, Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal, Stephen Nelson, Karl Kempton, Elmedin Kadric, Ruggero Maggi, Dawn Nelson Wardrope, Jim George, Marilyn R. Rosenberg, Jeff Bagato, Marilyn Stablein, Michael Brandonisio, Pearl Button, Kate Tough, Melissa Clendenin Johnson, Mario José Cervantes, Márton Koppány, Barnaby Smith, Kristian Patruno, & Maggie Carson.

302 pages
Price: $US44.25
Direct link: https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/mark-young/otoliths-issue-sixty-four-part-two/paperback/product-nyd8w8.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Part three of issue sixty-four of Otoliths is WHOL / OHLW / LWOH AND OTHER POEMS by Scott MacLeod which, as its title suggests, is, first, a reduction of Ginsberg's HOWL to its basics — the letters used as they appear & their frequency, followed by a ranking of the number of appearances — & then a rebuilding & expansion of the poem. Plus OTHER POEMS to round the chapbook out.

60 pages
Price: US$9.95
Direct link: https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/scott-macleod/otoliths-issue-sixty-four-part-three-whol-ohlw-lwoh-and-other-poems-by-scott-macleod/paperback/product-y47djv.html?page=1&pageSize=4

wednesday newstrip

US authorities search for missing monkeys after truck carrying 100 primates crashes in Pennsylvania · Bitcoin value tumbles almost 50 per cent since record November · exotic 'X' particles detected for the first time in quark-gluon plasma · China accused of foreign interference after Australian Pram Minister Scat SorrySon's WeChat account hijacked & renamed "We are the Chumpions" · Joe BidenMyTime calls reporter a 'stupid son of a bitch' after being questioned on inflation · new condom could increase protected sex & decrease sexually transmitted infections · Swiss banking bonking CEO claims $307,000 spent at strip clubs was business expense · a rocket owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX is so out-of-control it’s going to crash into the moon.

Issue sixty-four of Otoliths is now live.

Issue sixty-four, the southern summer issue of Otoliths, has just gone live.

In Frank Herbert's Dune, melange is an addictive drug that, among other things, turns a user's eyes blue. This issue of Otoliths can't promise that, but it is a mélange, an exciting mixture of many things by many people — Christian ALLE, R L Swihart, Cecelia Chapman, Heath Brougher, Jim Leftwich, Alyssa Gillespie, Edward Lee, Sanjeev Sethi, Nathan Anderson, Mary Cresswell, Elaine Woo, Craig Cotter, Demosthenes Agrafiotis, Andrew Stys, Nathan Whiting, Clara B. Jones, George Moore, Joanna Walkden Harris, Pete Spence, Alan Catlin, Steve Carll, Richard Magahiz & John W. Sexton, Jennifer Weigel, Lynn Strongin, KJ Hannah Greenberg, Scott MacLeod, Rhys Trimble, Vin Whitman, Cameron Morse, Grzegorz Wróblewski, David Jalajel, Tom Beckett, Jonel Abellanosa, Texas Fontanella, Jon Wesick, Jack Galmitz, Joseph Salvatore Aversano, Diana Magallón, Joel Chace, Ruth Lepson, Robyn Groth, Ric Carfagna, Michael J. Leach, Dave Read, Carol Stetser, Randee Silv, József Bíró, Jeremy Scott, Daniel de Culla, Aysegul Yildirim, Jürgen O. Olbrich & Francisco Gálvez, Eric Hoffman, Les Wicks, Amrita Tandon, Bob Kotyk, Rosella Quintini, Joe Balaz, Jeff Crouch, John M. Bennett, Ioan Bunus, Mindaugas Žuromskas, Jeff Harrison, Keith McKay, Vernon Frazer, Hrishikesh Srinivas, John Levy, Sutanuka Ghosh Roy, Réka Nyitrai, James Grabill, Mark Danowsky, Austin Alexis, Judith Skillman, Seth Howard, hiromi suzuki, Anna Cates, DS Maolalai, Andrew Topel, Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal, Tony Beyer, Harvey Huddleston, Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad, Stephen Nelson, Christopher Barnes, Karl Kempton, Patrick Sweeney, Elmedin Kadric, Jon Cone, Ruggero Maggi, Dawn Nelson Wardrope, Charles Freeland, Angelo 'NGE' Colella, Susan Gangel, Daniel Barbiero, Marilyn R. Rosenberg, Betty Baxter, Jim George, Penelope Weiss, Jeff Bagato, Marilyn Stablein, Bob Heman, Keith Nunes, Eileen R. Tabios, Joshua Martin, J. D. Nelson, Danni Storm, Jane Simpson, Michael Brandonisio, Pearl Button, Melissa Clendenin Johnson, Sheila E. Murphy, Mario José Cervantes, Bob Lucky, Emmett Lewis, Márton Koppány, Barnaby Smith, Paul Pfleuger, Jr., Kristian Patruno, Peter Yovu, Kate Tough, & Maggie Carson.

geographies: Lima South

 

Today the post-
woman brought
me a bath 

that had been 
thrown out with 
the baby water.

wednesday newstrip

Prince Andrew handles royal heartbreak with family shooting party · expect more worrisome variants after omicron, scientists say · Earth's insides are cooling faster than we thought, & it will mess things up · a huge project is underway to sequence the genome of every complex species on Earth · Microsoft’s historic takeover of Activision Blizzard for $US68.7 billion comes with a lot of games — & a spotty reputation · ‘Mega iceberg’ releases billions of tonnes of fresh water into ocean · molecular dynamics inform ideal tool shape for nanofabrication · devastating explosion in Ghana caused by truck & motorcycle crash sees 17 killed & 59 injured · Meat Loaf dead at 74 from Covid.

Today the post-
woman brought
me a large Bo 
tree. I have re-

planted it in
the overgrown
back garden be-
tween the lychee 

& the macadamia. 
Next week we 
are going for a 
holiday, & there 

will be no-one 
here to hear it 
if it falls. Will
Buddha-mind?

wednesday newstrip

Asteroid with more force than biggest nuclear bomb to come close to Earth in 2029 · Red Dead Online players are frustrated after months without a major update · dolphins have a fully functional clitoris, study finds · Brutish Pram Minister Porous Sandstone 'hosted 40-person garden party' in Downing Street at height of UK lockdown · model Yael Cohen Aris claims company ripped off her likeness to make sex doll without consent · Counter-Strike: Global Offensive gambling lawsuit dismissed because plaintiff never opened game · Microsoft Office now has a "wokeness" editor that will flag your writing if it contains insensitive phrases · new study of Mars meteorite found in 1984 debunks proof of ancient Martian life on the planet.

geographies: Serpentine

 

Cross Johnnie

 

wednesday newstrip

Rare joint statement from Russia, China, Britain, US, & France says 'nuclear war cannot be won' · as Afghanistan spirals into a vortex of poverty, parents are desperate enough to sell their own children · mysterious footprints suggest Neanderthals climbed a volcano right after it erupted · TikTok's highest-earning stars Charli & Dixie D'Amelio raked in $38 million in 2021 · snowstorm kills at least 21 tourists at Pakistani resort · at least seven dead after boulder crashes on tourist boats in Brazil · the latest handbag accessory? The rise of carbon dioxide monitors · 'the epitome of dignity & grace:' Barack Obama leads tributes for Sidney Poitier.

recently, at Series Magritte

La Fleche de Zenon



At this point in time
the rock is not falling
or hovering or travel-
ing in a straight line
between two points.

At this point in time
the waves are not
crashing on the shore,
the clouds are still, &
the moon has stopped

orbiting the Earth. At
any point in time, says
Zeno, an arrow is not
moving to where it is
going or where it is not.

No time elapses; so how
can it move? It is already
here, so how can it move
here? At this point in
time I am watching the

movement of a painting
that does not move &
yet it moves this viewer
even though, at this point
in time, the viewer is

motionless.

wednesday newstrip

Sydney pathology service incorrectly tells 400 positive COVID-19 cases they are negative · Genshin Impact releases 3 new redeem codes for free Primogems in V2.4 special program · inactivated SARS-CoV-2 induces acute respiratory distress syndrome in human ACE2-transgenic mice · they're back: asteroid three times the size of Statue of Liberty to skim past Earth · COLORFUL intros Warhalberd CN600 NVMe M.2 Gen 3 SSDs, 256GB for $39 · green single step manufacture of Mn nanoparticles for nanofertlizer use · Tesla recalls more than 475,000 cars because of rear-view camera, bonnet issues · Golden Girls star, 'national treasure' Betty White dies just short of her 100th birthday.

Searchin', as Leiber & Stoller used to say

 

wednesday newstrip

Mum stomps on elderly woman’s head, king hits man in brutal attack · floral tributes grow at scene after six children killed in Tasmania jumping castle tragedy identified · Tencent buys Back 4 Blood & Left 4 Dead studio Turtle Rock · necklaces conspiracy theorists wear to 'protect' themselves from 5G are actually radioactive, nuclear experts warn · Ant-man's new ride? Scientists discover 1,306-legged insect · five Ice-Age mammoths unearthed in Cotswolds after 220,000 years · Police investigate $1 million silver bullion theft from truck · biologists describe structure & function of heme transport & assembly machine · Travis Barker & Kourtney Kardashian’s latest TMI Instagram display · northbound traffic is heavy on the Sydney Harbor Bridge after a van lost a load of salmon · women & children among dozens reported killed by government troops in Myanmar Christmas Eve massacre.

Today the post-
woman brought

me a surface to 
air missile with 

black currant & 
sweet red capsicum 

on the nose &
underlying subtle 

smoky hints of 
oak & gooseberry.

geographies: Baddaginnie

 

wednesday newstrip

Scientists manage to keep droplets of water in liquid form at -47.2°F · Jesy Nelson is getting roasted like a Christmas turkey for this PR nightmare of a Xmas Show · cellular properties of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein RBD in virus-infected African green monkey kidney epithelial cells · Agent of Chaos North West is probs in big trouble after going on TikTok live in Kim K’s room · Kentucky candle factory bosses threatened to fire those who fled tornado, say workers · SK hynix becomes the first to achieve 24GB DDR5 DRAM chip density, has begun shipping samples to customers · … the Australian way —a country run by mates, & mates of mates, where the foundational doctrine of the current Federal government is "we look after our mates." Particularly when they’re Rupert Murdoch’s mates · a flock of chickens joined Santa Claus & a woman from bed during an outrageous court hearing for Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Mr. Andrews had been summoned to appear before the criminal court on a charge of concealing treason & fraud. The court later confirmed the proceeding against Mr. Andrews had been struck out, but could not provide an explanation as to why.

wednesday newstrip

New robust tool for faster, economical, easier coral reef monitoring · Pete Davidson & Machine Gun Kelly drive fans wild as they strip down to Calvin Klein underwear during Instagram takeover · Scuf’s Reflex for PS5 is a pricier, customizable take on the DualSense · UK prioritised animals over people during Kabul airlift, says whistleblower · teen arrested in western India for beheading pregnant sister as mother allegedly held victim's legs · China’s Yutu II spots ‘mystery hut’ on far side of the moon · New Zealand's Smokefree legislation to ban people born after 2010 from ever buying tobacco · Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin apologizes for clubbing despite COVID warning, after gossip magazine publishes photos of her on the dancefloor.

Today the post-
woman brought
me the Noble
Piece prize plus

a bagful of
endorsement
requests from
the many

penis enlargement
companies I've
dealt with
over the years.

geographies: Branxholme

 

wednesday newstrip

US military plans for greater presence in Australia as it confronts China's power · emissions rise 2% in Australia amid increased pollution from electricity & transport · a republic is born: Prince Charles, Rihanna watch as Barbados ditches the Queen · legendary New Zealand giant eagle was a killer that ate like a vulture · North Korea is banning leather trench coats to stop citizens from being able to copy Kim Jong Un's style · 3.7-million-year-old fossil footprints were made by mystery species of hominin, not a bear · KFC fans lose it over next-level menu item · champagne shortage hits Australia · Niantic unlocks the frame rate in Pokemon Go on iOS.

Track & Field

 

Today the post-
woman brought
me an Andy 
Warhol silk-
screen print of an
Iams Veterinary 
Formula Intestinal 
Low-Residue Dog 
Food can, done 
before The Factory,
before fame. De-
tractors call it 
his Pup Art phase.

geographies: Netherby

 

wednesday newstrip

Caltech researchers read a jellyfish’s mind · DoNuts T.®ump is awarded a ninth dan black belt at Mar-a-lago · astronomers announce the discovery of the fastest-rotating white dwarf star on record, with a spin rate of once every 25 seconds · PlayStation faces gender discrimination lawsuit from former staffer · Ridley Scott is blaming millennials & their cellphones for his latest movie bombing · Mammoth tusk recovered from an unlikely place: the bottom of the ocean · seroprevalence study reveals high exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in Bangui population · on Steam, Farming Simulator 22 has more active players than Battlefield 2042.

Today the post-
woman brought
me one of those
so-called smart 

bombs. Don't
know why they
call them that. I 
asked this one a

couple of simple 
questions & it 
couldn't answer 
either of them.

wednesday newstrip

Two accused killers of Malcolm X, Muhammad Aziz & Khalil Islam, to be cleared of 1965 assassination · eco band Formidable Vegetable calls for 'buy nothing' Christmas · Meghan Markle could be barred from becoming US president by 211-year-old amendment to the Constitution that was designed to stop Napoleon's nephew from seeking power · GameStop meme stock villain buys copy of the Constitution for $US43 million · experts call for US to bolster defence against asteroid threat · Fox News claims Rittenhouse case showed 'ideological baggage' of other news outlets · some Pacific countries will take years to vaccinate 50% of adult population, modelling shows · the future of digital assistants is queer.

geographies: Swan Hill

 

Today the post-
woman brought
me a creative urge. 

I've sent it out in-
to the kitchen to 
get dinner ready. 

wednesday newstrip

Ferocious 'penis worms' were the hermit crabs of the ancient seas · new epigenetic editing technique may advance the treatment of many diseases · Pram Monster Scat SorrySon says he won't 'force' Australians into driving electric vehicles · Big Bird blasted by conservatives, anti-vaxers over one COVID jab tweet · original Apple computer built by Jobs & Wozniak sells for $400k · Travis Got Busted Copping A Feel Of Kourt’s Norks At Kris’ Karaoke Bday & It’s So Fkn Awkward · Australia named the ‘colossal fossil’ of Cop26 for ‘appalling performance’ · Britney Spears is free, but 1.3 million Americans still live under strict conservatorships · band apologizes for singer after she pees on fan's face during concert.

The print parts of Otoliths issue sixty-three are now available

The print parts of Otoliths issue sixty-three are now available from The Otoliths Storefront at Lulu. Details are below. Unfortunately, Lulu seem to have discontinued their promotional discount program which is a great pity, especially now that the major parts of Otoliths are becoming so large & thus more costly.

Part One
438 pages, b & w
Price: $US 22.45
Direct Link: https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/mark-young/otoliths-issue-sixty-three-part-one/paperback/product-gkjq47.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Part One of Otoliths sixty-three contains fiction & non-fiction, vispo, reviews, translations, essays, short stories, & poetry from Sanjeev Sethi, Andrew K. Peterson, Thomas Fink, Scott MacLeod, Eric Hoffman, Demosthenes Agrafiotis, Jazmine Blu, Mark DeCarteret, Rp Verlaine, Jack Galmitz, Timothy Pilgrim, Gloria Frym, Juan Pablo Mobili, John Bradley, Volodymyr Bilyk, Ernesto Priego, Heath Brougher, Doug Bolling, David Miller, Dale Jensen, Jim Leftwich, Joanna Walkden Harris & Pete Spence, David Lohrey, Joseph V. Milford, Vernon Frazer, Kenneth Rexroth, Lynn Strongin, John M. Bennett & C. Mehrl Bennett, John M. Bennett, Christopher Barnes, Jim Meirose, John Martone, Réka Nyitrai, Richard Kostelanetz, Piet Nieuwland, Paul Dickey, Rachel Chitofu, Jimmy Crouse, Clay Thistleton, Clara B. Jones, Penelope Weiss, Joel Chace, dan raphael, Tony Beyer, Austin Miles, Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal, Paul Shumaker, Joshua Martin, Elmedin Kadric, Rich Murphy, Jeff Harrison, Scott Metz, Hugh Tribbey, Mark Pirie, Scott Helmes, Sheila E. Murphy, Clive Gresswell, Jeff Bagato, Jen Schneider, John Levy, Bob Lucky, Eric Mohrman, Owen Bullock, Raha. M, Jeff Adams, Ian Ferguson, Stephen Mead, Matthew Anderson, Peter Yovu, Bob Heman, Linda M. Walker, Paul Pfleuger, Jr., Michael Brandonisio, Harry Reid, J. D. Nelson, Jess Burnquist, Mark DuCharme, Carol Shillibeer, & sian vate.


Part Two
372 pages, full color
Price: $US 49.95
Direct Link: https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/mark-young/otoliths-issue-sixty-three-part-two/paperback/product-v58g29.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Part Two of Otoliths sixty-three, the full color part, contains paintings, collages, drawings, mailart, photographs, text poetry, asemics, vispo, & renovation tips from Rémi Forte, Kenneth M Cale, Michael Orr, Texas Fontanella, tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE, Demosthenes Agrafiotis, Keith Walker, Jim Leftwich, Ira Joel Haber, Christian ALLE, hiromi suzuki, Susan diRende, Bill Wolak, Grzegorz Wróblewski, Marco Giovenale, Rus Khomutoff, Michael Gould, Andrew Topel, Judith Skillman, Pete Spence, John M. Bennett & Jim Leftwich, John M. Bennett, Cecelia Chapman, Carol Stetser, Dave Read, Elaine Woo, Angela Caporaso, Jon Kemsley, Robinson & John M. Bennett, Adam Roussopoulos & John M. Bennett, gobscure, Joe Balaz, Johannes S. H. Bjerg, Jeff Bagato, Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad, Adriána Kóbor, nick nelson, bofa xesjum, Ian Gibbins, Rosella Quintini, Joanne Bechtel, Marilyn Stablein, Julia Vaughan, József Bíró, Kell Nelson, Isabel Gómez de Diego, Daniel de Culla, Kit Kennedy, Kerfe Roig, Andrea Astolfi, Marcia Arrieta, Guy R. Beining, & Cherie Hunter Day.


Part Three
48 pages, b & w
Price: $US 9.75
Direct Link: https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/harvey-huddleston/otoliths-issue-sixty-three-part-three-masters-of-time-and-distance-by-harvey-huddleston/paperback/product-7nk65w.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Part Three of Otoliths issue sixty-three is the complete novella, Masters of Time and Distance, by Harvey Huddleston, about a group of friends on a somewhat life-changing trip to the Ozarks.


Part Four
48 pages, full color
Price: $US 14.75
Direct Link: https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/carla-bertola/otoliths-issue-sixty-three-part-four-metamorphoses-of-undelivered-letters-by-carla-bertola/paperback/product-w64k64.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Part Four of Otoliths issue sixty-three is Carla Bertola's metamorphoses of undelivered letters. It's a visual treat, a whimsical journey about what happens when letters do not reach their destination and are forced to undergo a perilous return to sender.


Part Five
90 pages, full color
Price: $US 18.25
Direct Link: https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/karl-kempton/otoliths-issue-sixty-three-sandskrit-of-the-oceano-dunes-by-karl-kempton/paperback/product-j7e7p8.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Part five of Otoliths issue sixty three is sandskrit of the oceano dunes, a lengthy sequence of Karl Kempton's exquisite photographs of the Oceano Dunes, that demonstrates how the region's "(s)andskrit wind written cursive dialects vary."

Maybe / I didn't / write like her

but my mother's support was a strong influence in my early writing days. & my first poems were probably composed on the same typewriter that she used to write the submission version of this sonnet twenty years earlier.

 

wednesday newstrip

Australia considering more than 100 fossil fuel projects that could produce the equivalent of 5% of current global industrial emissions · a small telescope past Saturn could solve some mysteries of the universe better than giant telescopes near Earth · Doug, an ugly 'self-sown' New Zealand potato the size of a small dog, could be world's biggest · NASA to deflect asteroid in test of 'planetary defense' · Elden Ring gameplay trailer shows enormous map, multiplayer, stealth, crafting, & a talkative Pot Boy · no toilet for returning Elongated Muskrat's SpaceX crew, stuck using nappies · ‘no excuse’, say irate shoppers as Tesla car runs out of battery, blocks car park in London mall for 3 hours · only two per cent of Great Barrier Reef has escaped bleaching due to global warming.

(about-to-be) really smashed avocado

(photo from ABC Australia)
 

Today the post-
woman brought
me a walking
stick. Now all I
need are a back
fence, a fruit-
filled apple tree
just inside it but
not too far out
of reach for the
young kids of 
the neighbor-
hood. Those who
can remember 
the past are also
condemned to re-
peat it. I never did
like Santayana.

wednesday newstrip

Pair walk away with 45 rare wines, one worth $500k, in brazen Spanish theft · scientists astounded as 'new hidden world' discovered inside Earth's core · fully vaccinated people can pass on the Delta variant at home, including to other vaccinated people, a study finds — but unvaccinated people are still at most risk · man in 'Joker' costume stabs 17 people on Tokyo train, starts fire · French President Emmanuel Ō accuses Australian Pram Minister Scat SorrySon of lying about sudden termination of 90 billion dollar submarine contract · from a 'class divide' to 'intergenerational theft', Australia's real estate frenzy leaves many behind.

The new issue of Otoliths is now online

Issue sixty-three, the southern spring issue of Otoliths, is now live.

 

As always, there's a wide range of material from a wide range of contributors — Harvey Huddleston, Rémi Forte, Kenneth M Cale, Sanjeev Sethi, Andrew K. Peterson, Michael Orr, Thomas Fink, Texas Fontanella, Scott MacLeod, tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE, Eric Hoffman, Demosthenes Agrafiotis, Keith Walker, Jazmine Blu, Jim Leftwich, Mark DeCarteret, Ira Joel Haber, Rp Verlaine, Christian ALLE, hiromi suzuki, Jack Galmitz, Timothy Pilgrim, Gloria Frym, Juan Pablo Mobili, Susan diRende, John Bradley, Volodymyr Bilyk, Bill Wolak, Grzegorz Wróblewski, Marco Giovenale, Ernesto Priego, Rus Khomutoff, Michael Gould, Heath Brougher, Doug Bolling, David Miller, Dale Jensen, Andrew Topel, Judith Skillman, Pete Spence, Joanna Walkden Harris, David Lohrey, John M. Bennett, Joseph V. Milford, Vernon Frazer, Kenneth Rexroth, Lynn Strongin, C. Mehrl Bennett, Christopher Barnes, Jim Meirose, John Martone, Cecelia Chapman, Carol Stetser, Dave Reid, Réka Nyitrai, Richard Kostelanetz, Piet Nieuwland, Paul Dickey, Rachel Chitofu, Jimmy Crouse, Clay Thistleton, Elaine Woo, Clara B. Jones, Angela Caporaso, Penelope Weiss, Joel Chace, dan raphael, Tony Beyer, Jon Kemsley, Austin Miles, Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal, Paul Shumaker, Robinson, Adam Roussopoulos, gobscure, Joe Balaz, Joshua Martin, Elmedin Kadric, Rich Murphy, Jeff Harrison, Scott Metz, Karl Kempton, Hugh Tribbey, Mark Pirie, Scott Helmes, Sheila E. Murphy, Johannes S. H. Bjerg, Clive Gresswell, Jeff Bagato, Jen Schneider, Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad, John Levy, Adriána Kóbor, nick nelson, bofa xesjum, Bob Lucky, Eric Mohrman, Owen Bullock, Raha.M, Jeff Adams, Ian Gibbins, Mike Ferguson, Rosella Quintini, Stephen Mead, Joanne Bechtel, Matthew Anderson, Marilyn Stablein, Peter Yovu, Julia Vaughan, Bob Heman, József Bíró, Linda M. Walker, Kell Nelson, Paul Pfleuger, Jr., Isabel Gómez de Diego, Daniel de Culla, Michael Brandonisio, Kit Kennedy, Kerfe Roig, Andrea Astolfi, Harry Reid, J. D. Nelson, Marcia Arrieta, Jess Burnquist, Guy R. Beining, Mark DuCharme, Cherie Hunter Day, Carol Shillibeer, Carla Bertola, & sian vate.

wednesday newstrip

New Zealand city council ends contract with wizard after two decades of service · China denies media reports it tested nuclear-capable hypersonic missile, claims it was a space bot · first dinosaur era crab discovered – fully preserved in 100-million-year-old amber · ‘We need him to deliver’: BidenMyTime faces wrath of disappointed supporters · Buckingham Palace under fire for not revealing Queen's hospital visit sooner · NZ's canned wine exports set for multimillion-dollar growth as Wairarapa winemakers expand into the US · humanitarian catastrophe looms for Afghanistan if major powers deny Taliban rule, Pakistan warns · Greece recovers Picasso, Mondrian paintings stolen from gallery in 2012.

Today the post-
woman brought
me a pair of
elevator shoes 
that took me
straight to the 
top floor. Pity 
about the 
music that 
came with them.

Recently, at Series Magritte

Le Sabbat

He refused to work
on the Sabbath, which
is why the lights are
all turned off — the moon
gives me enough light
to find my way around —

& the painting is left
upside down — I won't
work but that doesn't 
stop my mind from
turning over, so putting 
things in unusual places 
often helps as a sort of 
associative trigger when
the next day comes around — 

& for any person passing
by, an upturned apple is
still an apple — I stole
that idea from Gertrude
Stein who I later paid back
by painting rose after rose 
after rose — but no one

has decreed that magic
can't be done on this day — 
I deliberately put that half-
full glass of wine there so
that when it hangs upside-
down with no spillage, what
else can it be but magical?

It's a long time

 

since I was #1 at anything.

wednesday newstrip

Australian companies are selling munitions & military technology to war-torn African countries under a Defence Department plan that critics have branded "grotesque" & unethical · Spelunky world record holder busted as a cheater · Netflix trans employees & allies plan walkout in protest at Dave Chappelle special · South African champion swimmer alleges former Australian coach sexually assaulted him as a teenager · researchers discover large rift in Arctic’s last bastion of thick sea ice — polar bears could vanish by the end of the century · Prince William blasts space race billionaires finding 'new place to live' before repairing Earth · William Shatner slams Prince William for anti-space remarks · the Queen condemns ‘really irritating’ world leaders for snubbing Glasgow climate talks.

New selected poems of Mark Young is now out

Songs to Come for the Salamander; Selected Poems 2013-2021: selected & introduced by Thomas Fink has just been co-published by Sandy Press & Meritage Press.

 

Mark Young
Songs to Come for the Salamander; Selected Poems 2013-2021:
selected & introduced by Thomas Fink
Sandy Press & Meritage Press, 2021
396 pages
$27.75 USD
ISBN: 978-1-7368160-4-2
Available through Amazon

Chosen by Thomas Fink from the 29 books of text poetry by Mark Young published since 2013, Songs to Come for the Salamander is a companion piece to the 2008 Pelican Dreaming, also selected & edited by Thomas Fink, & the 600-page 2013 The Codicils, which Young describes as nine books in one. It again highlights the variety, sly humor, & concern for social & political issues that the author is internationally known for. Many of his regular tropes — "A line from . . .," "Today the Postwo/man," & geographies are included, but they are only a small part of this delightful sampling from the 2500 or so poems from Young that have appeared in the nine years this selection covers.

"Some readers might assume that particular, highly pessimistic generalizations in Young’s poems are actually Mark Young presenting his sense of doom. The little ditty "democracy" registers the claim that "no-one// knows the/ words to" the "song" (the concept of democracy) even though "every-/ one sings" it, and "since violence is learned" tells us that "tolerance is no/ longer available, is replaced by trauma." Although nothing in the poems—not even such affirmations of aesthetic transport as "Constant Craving," which speaks of music "that acts as/ axis to steady everything around"—makes one identify the poet as a bright-eyed optimist, various moments in the work display too much respect for the complexity of cause and effect, limitations of human perception, the transience of trends, and sudden appearances of the unexpected to place sustained credence in large generalizations and foregone conclusions."
— from the Introduction by Thomas Fink.

Recent books by Mark Young from Sandy Press.

The Sasquatch Walks Among Us
Sorties

Today the post-
woman brought
me an original 
oil painting 
of Washington 
Irving Crossing 
The Delaware. 
                        "What
are you on about?" 
she snapped when 
I questioned
its provenance.

wednesday newstrip

PCIe 5.0 high-power connector for next-gen graphics cards to deliver up to 600w to GPUs · Foo Fighters frontman & former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl opens up about life & loss in new memoir · roundworms melt down their organs to squirt milk from their vulvas for their young · Tyson Fury confirms dominance of heavyweight division with trilogy fight for the ages · Australian Pram Minister Scat SorrySon's quarantine barbecue 'curry night' sparks outrage · Far Cry 6 developer interview: ‘Revolution is violent, but not humorless’ · ‘Authoritarian-style’ law would allow Australia to use secret evidence to deport migrants.

Today the post-
woman brought
me a bacon & 
egg burger with 
aioli dressing. It 
wasn't what I 
wanted — I'd
actually asked
for the Gettysburg
Address — but
I didn't complain.
Hunger causes us
to compromise 
sometimes.

wednesday newstrip

Taliban bans shaving beards in Afghanistan's Helmand province, barbers report shift back to conservative cuts · COVID-19 pandemic has triggered greatest declines in life expectancy since World War II · gigantic comet approaching from outer Solar System may be the largest ever seen · Elon Muskrat ridicules President BidenMyTime after SpaceX completes its first all-civil mission · Drifblim carries people away, never to be seen again · UK extends truck driver visa program to ease pressure at the pump as fuel crisis persists · Martin Shkreli became the 'world's most hated man' as new documentary aims to understand how · orchid hunting is growing in popularity but there are fears the flowers are being 'loved to death.'

geographies: Nhill

 

Today the post-
woman brought
me a postcard
from André 
Breton who
writes that he
has changed
his family name
to Rieu, & is
making a motza
taking the mickey
out of the
musical world.

wednesday newstrip

Worms share memories with others by swapping RNA, wild study reveals · Bob Enyart, anti-vaxxer pastor & homophobic anti-abortion radio host, dies of COVID · Queensland police hunting driver behind burnout gender reveal on Logan street · NSW Health forced to clarify side effects of COVID-19 vaccine after Nicki Minaj’s ‘swollen testicles’ tweet · ‘rainbow colors & legs for days’: Australian fly species named after drag star RuPaul · US President Joe Bidenmytime appeared to forget Australian Prom Minister Scat SorrySon's name while announcing America & Britain will help Australia build a nuclear-powered submarine fleet · fossil found by schoolkids in New Zealand's Kawhia Harbour is new species of extinct giant penguin.

Today the post-
woman brought
me a Stillson
wrench. I'm
still trying 
to come to 
grips with it.

wednesday newstrip

Western US faces future of prolonged drought even with stringent emissions control · Test cricket match between Australia & Afghanistan likely to be cancelled after Taliban says it will ban women from playing · new imaging reveals hidden Ice Age landscapes buried deep in the North Sea · America's 'forever prisoner' has spent two decades in custody for planning the 9/11 attacks. But it's not clear he was involved · a huge, unknown Cambrian bug fossil has been found in the eerie Burgess Shale · Virginia Confederate general Robert E Lee statue removed in Richmond after Supreme Court court decision · THE ULTIMATE SURFER’S "QUEEN BITCH" ANASTASIA ASHLEY ON SHOW’S WILD BEHIND-THE-SCENES BACCHANAL, THE NEAR MASS DROWNING, & PERSISTENT CANCELLATION RUMORS! · UK 'cut climate pledges' to clinch Australia trade deal · shape-shifting animals tell the story of climate change, review finds.

wednesday newstrip

Scientists watch bacteria fix broken DNA in real time to see exactly how it's done · Playstation has backflipped on the Horizon Forbidden West PS5 upgrade but future game upgrades will cost · ever wondered why Mercedes-Benz alloy wheels are called ‘manhole covers?’ · as the Taliban overran Afghanistan, Australia told asylum seekers they should expect to be returned there · Cardi B & Offset announce birth of their second child · Hubble discovers hydrogen-burning white dwarfs enjoying slow aging · manhunt for Palestinian prisoners who 'used rusty spoon' to tunnel out of Israel's high-security Gilboa jail.

geographies: Edenhope

 

Today the post-
woman brought
me a room to put 
the elephant in.

wednesday newstrip

A quarter of Sun-like stars eat their own planets, according to new research · new 'flushability' standard will help to end 'fatbergs' from clogging our sewerage network · cannibal toads eat so many of their young, they're speeding up evolution · Highway collapses & alligator attacks in aftermath of Hurricane Ida · the ancients in Italy made an amazing set of tools from elephant bones · Fire Emblem Switch fans, here’s your next tactics RPG obsession, Dark Deity · Pass The Fkn Popcorn ‘Cos Kourt & Travis Just Responded To Younes & Scott’s Savage DMs On IG · China is cracking down on 'effeminate' men, private tutors & gaming · ‘unintended consequences:’ banks warn of rising costs if forced to fund coal.

something a little different to my normal fare

wednesday newstrip

KanYe West full-on doxxed Drake’s address & group chat after hearing a diss track aimed at him · astronomers discover the Usain Bolt of asteroids blazing around Sun · rising number of breakthrough Delta infections among fully vaccinated · porn legend Ron Jeremy indicted on more than 30 sex charges · T.®ump’s border wall reportedly in severe disrepair in Arizona · female hummingbirds look like males to evade harassment · COVID-19: one person shows up at anti-lockdown protest in Auckland, New Zealand · LED streetlights partly responsible for insect decline.

Today the post-
woman brought
me a mass-mailed—
but individually ad-
dressed & personally 
signed in blue ink—
"letter" from the 
Postal Service 
Director herself 
asking me to part-
icipate in an online 
survey about min-
imizing fiscal outlay
by reducing mail 
deliveries to every 
other day of the 
week. Today the
postwoman wore a
black tee on which,
in blue, the message:
morituri te salutant.
  

geographies: Patchewollock

 

wednesday newstrip

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s new dlc adds cavalry units that keep kicking my ass · an organism that moves, eats, & learns without a bubble, mouth, legs, or brain trends on social networks · giant lair of bones, including human, discovered in gruesome Saudi Arabian cave · bat pups babble & bat moms use baby talk, hinting at the evolution of human language · Hidradenitis suppurativa: discontinuation of adalimumab prior to surgery is not necessary · N. Z. Covid 19 response Minister Chris Hipkins' amusing slip up, tells Kiwis to socially distance when you 'spread your legs' · Owen Wilson Revealed He Received A "Strike 1" Text Possibly From Kevin Feige After He Let It Slip That His "Loki" Character, Mobius, Had A Mustache, And I Want Someone To Check In On Tom Holland Stat · China's rover continues search for signs of life on Mars · DoNuts T.®ump was booed at a rally on Saturday in Alabama after telling supporters they should get vaccinated.

Today the post-
woman brought
me an unsigned
ransom note
threatening to 
destroy the world 
unless I came up 
& across with $10
billion in in-
consequential 
bills. "Such is life,"
I thought & threw
it in the trash. Ex-
istentialism does
have an upside.

wednesday newstrip

Federal parliament sittings in limbo after Canberra plunged into lockdown · Poly Network cryptocurrency hack sees hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Ethereum, other coins stolen · Taliban going door to door for girls as young as 12 to make them ‘sex slaves’ · fossil tusk reveals travels of woolly mammoth across Alaska 17,000 years ago during the ice age · GTA 5 should run at 4K 60fps on PS5, but will it? · study finds novel approach to attenuate mitochondrial dysfunction that drives diet-induced obesity · illegible note sees would-be robber flee bank empty-handed · only slight chance of asteroid Bennu hitting Earth: NASA.

geographies: Rupanyup

 

video Q

 

wednesday newstrip

Health experts call for reform as data suggests woodfired heaters are responsible for more premature deaths than thought · endangered Tuataras' super-speedy sperm could boost conservation efforts · astronomers find dancing cosmic 'ghosts' spawned by the wild weather of black holes · UN condemns Zimbabwe child marriages after 14-year-old girl forced to wed dies after giving birth · Taliban's hold on Afghanistan tightens as foreign troops withdraw · police & the army conducting COVID-19 compliance patrols in Sydney · 'biblical catastrophe': fires rampage through forests in Greece · NASA opens applications for year-long Mars simulation · Back 4 Blood beta players think they hear zombies yelling the N-word · Princess Diana's giant lace collar is back.

Today the post-
woman brought
me a cartouche.
"What's this?" I
asked.

                                she said.

geographies: Underbool

 

The print parts of Otoliths issue sixty-two are now available

The print parts of Otoliths issue sixty-two are now available from The Otoliths Storefront at Lulu. Details are below. Lulu generally runs a promotional discount from Monday to Friday. This week's discount is 10% & the discount code is BEACH10.

Part One
395 pages, b & w
Price: $US19.45
Direct link: https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/mark-young/otoliths-issue-sixty-two-part-one/paperback/product-vn8wm4.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Part One of Otoliths sixty-two contains fiction & non-fiction, vispo, reviews, translations, essays, & poetry from Pat Nolan, Sanjeev Sethi, Lisa Creech Bledsoe, Alan Catlin, Cameron Dean Gibson, Jim Leftwich, Christopher Barnes, Dave Drayton, Jimmy Crouse, Carol Shillibeer, Demosthenes Agrafiotis, Paul Dickey, Peycho Kanev, Clara B. Jones, Vernon Frazer, Joshua Martin, Eric Hoffman, Lynn Strongin, Craig Cotter, Michael Reich, Michael Spring, Jack Galmitz, Harvey Huddleston, Joseph Buehler, Joanna Walkden Harris & Pete Spence, Mark Rutter, Linda King, Nathan Anderson, Stephen C. Middleton, Richard J. Fleming, Lawrence R. Smith, Louise Landes Levi, Marcus Liljedahl, Charles Freeland, Robert van Vliet, Coleman Edward Dues, M.J. Iuppa, Mark Pirie, Anna Cates, Clive Gresswell, Norman Abjorensen, dan raphael, S. K. Kelen, Texas Fontanella & Brandstifter, Scott MacLeod, Jen Schneider, Mark Cunningham, John Levy, Sheila E. Murphy, Owen Bullock, Réka Nyitrai, Jordan Stempleman, Keith Polette, Stu Hatton, Thomas Osatchoff, Charles Wilkinson, Bob Lucky, Nicholas Alexander Hayes, Charles Borkhuis, Jeff Harrison, bart plantenga, Dominique Hamon, John M. Bennett, Penelope Weiss, Mary Kasimor, Jake Reeds, Keith Nunes, Ryan Quinn Flanagan, Michael J. Leach, Pam Brown, Daniel f Bradley, Tony Beyer, Nathan Whiting, Gavin Lucky, J. D. Nelson, R L Swihart, Mark Danowsky, Keith Higginbotham, Carla Sarett, Michael Brandonisio, Bob Heman, Paul Pfleuger, Jr., Tim Wright, Charlotte Jung, & Karl Kempton.

Part Two
295 pages, full color
Price: $US41.45
Direct Link: https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/mark-young/otoliths-issue-sixty-two-part-two/paperback/product-pm6wgn.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Part Two of Otoliths sixty-two, the full color part, contains paintings, collages, drawings, mailart, anti-manifestos, photographs, text poetry, asemics, & vispo from Adam Roussopoulos & John M. Bennett, Cecelia Chapman & Randee Silv, David Harrison Horton, AG Davis, Andrew Topel, Cecelia Chapman & Jeff Crouch, John Vieira, Elaine Woo, Texas Fontanella, Rosella Quintini, hiromi suzuki, Scott Helmes, Grzegorz Wróblewski, Demosthenes Agrafiotis, Jürgen O. Olbrich, Carol Stetser, Pamela Miller, Liminalism, Joseph Salvatore Aversano, Jim Leftwich & Jeff Crouch, Kathup Tsering, Pete Spence, Judith Skillman, harry k stammer, John McCluskey, Daniel de Culla, Michelle Moloney King, John Levy, Dave Read, Jim Leftwich, corinne delmonico, Isabel Gómez de Diego, C. Mehrl Bennett & John M. Bennett, Mindaugas Žuromskas & John M. Bennett, John M. Bennett & Robert Jones, John M. Bennett, Guy R. Beining, Jeff Bagato, Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad, Richard Magahiz, Marilyn Stablein, Diana Magallón, David Greenslade, Gian Luigi Braggio, Cecelia Chapman + Jeff Crouch + John M. Bennett + Jim Leftwich, Cecelia Chapman, Marcia Arrieta, & Alex Caldiero.

Part Three
67 pages, full color
Price: $US10.95
Direct Link: https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/alberto-vitacchio/otoliths-issue-sixty-two-part-three-nowon-by-alberto-vitacchio/paperback/product-vn8wj4.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Part Three of Otoliths sixty-two is noWon, Alberto Vitacchio's text & manipulated-photo philosophical essay / travelogue / love letter that spans both sides of the Atlantic in a wonderful demonstration of the breadth & depth of Vitacchio's vision.

wednesday newstrip

It Looks Like The Full Big Brother VIP Cast Is Out & The Only POC Is A Fkn Former Trump Advisor · remains of giant vampire bat from 100,000 years ago found in Argentinian cave · space photos show intense drying of California mountains · Sky News Australia banned from YouTube for seven days over Covid misinformation · New Zealand is importing coal by the shipload · changes to the Sage icon in Final Fantasy XIV to help those with trypophobia · Army to hit Sydney streets as New South Wales COVID-19 cases rise · thousands of people in vegetative state believed to be conscious · Twitter launches competition to find biases in its image algorithm.

The latest issue of Otoliths is now live

 

Issue sixty-two of Otoliths, the southern winter 2021 issue, has just gone live. It's another lively issue with a mix of short story, review, photography, poetry, painting, & collage in a variety of styles, by an outstanding list of contributors, often in collaboration, from around the globe — Adam Roussopoulos, John M. Bennett, Pat Nolan, Cecelia Chapman, Randee Silv, David Harrison Horton, Sanjeev Sethi, AG Davis, Lisa Creech Bledsoe, Andrew Topel, Alan Catlin, Jeff Crouch, John Vieira, Cameron Dean Gibson, Elaine Woo, Jim Leftwich, Christopher Barnes, Texas Fontanella, Dave Drayton, Rosella Quintini, hiromi suzuki, Jimmy Crouse, Carol Shillibeer, Scott Helmes, Grzegorz Wróblewski, Demosthenes Agrafiotis, Paul Dickey, Jürgen O. Olbrich, Peycho Kanev, Carol Stetser, Clara B. Jones, Vernon Frazer, Joshua Martin, Pamela Miller, Eric Hoffman, Liminalism, Alberto Vitacchio, Lynn Strongin, Joseph Salvatore Aversano, Craig Cotter, Michael Reich, Michael Spring, Jack Galmitz, Harvey Huddleston, Joseph Buehler, Joanna Walkden Harris, Pete Spence, Mark Rutter, Linda King, Nathan Anderson, Kathup Tsering, Stephen C. Middleton, Richard J. Fleming, Lawrence R. Smith, Louise Landes Levi, Marcus Liljedahl, Charles Freeland, Robert van Vliet, Coleman Edward Dues, Mark Pirie, Anna Cates, Clive Gresswell, Judith Skillman, Norman Abjorensen, dan raphael, S. K. Kelen, harry k stammer, Brandstifter, M.J. Iuppa, John McCluskey, Scott MacLeod, Jen Schneider, Daniel de Culla, Mark Cunningham, Dave Read, John Levy, Sheila E. Murphy, Owen Bullock, Réka Nyitrai, Jordan Stempleman, Keith Polette, corinne delmonico, Stu Hatton, Thomas Osatchoff, Charles Wilkinson, Bob Lucky, Nicholas Alexander Hayes, Isabel Gómez de Diego, Charles Borkhuis, Michelle Moloney King, Jeff Harrison, bart plantenga, Dominique Hamon, C. Mehrl Bennett, Mindaugas Žuromskas, Robert Jones, Penelope Weiss, Guy R. Beining, Mary Kasimor, Jake Reeds, Keith Nunes, Ryan Quinn Flanagan, Michael J. Leach, Jeff Bagato, Pam Brown, Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad, Daniel f Bradley, Tony Beyer, Nathan Whiting, Gavin Lucky, Richard Magahiz, J. D. Nelson, Marilyn Stablein, R L Swihart, David Greenslade, Mark Danowsky, Keith Higginbotham, Gian Luigi Braggio, Diana Magallón, Carla Sarett, Michael Brandonisio, Marcia Arrieta, Alex Caldiero, Bob Heman, Paul Pfleuger, Jr., Tim Wright, Charlotte Jung, & Karl Kempton.

wednesday newstrip

We now have precise math to describe how black holes reflect the Universe · UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid tests positive to coronavirus · jumping spiders seem to have a cognitive ability only previously found in vertebrates · military game fan leaks classified docs to win forum argument · UK woman banned from defecating & urinating in public after 25-year ‘poo-bombing’ campaign · wild sulfur-crested cockatoos in Australia are teaching each other how to break into trash bins · Kanye West blasted by fans for charging $50 for chicken tenders at album launch party · invasive insect fall armyworm on the march, but scientists fight back with an oozing virus & an egg-attacking wasp.

Today the post-
woman brought
me an asteroid
belt. Pity I've
got no suit/able
trousers to
wear it with.

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 . . .

geographies: St. Arnaud

 

wednesday newstrip

Nintendo: unopened copy of Super Mario 64 from 1996 sells for $2.24 million · fungal leather production could mean change of tack for equestrians · UFO chaser claims photo taken from International Space Station shows aliens circling above Earth · unvaccinated Belgian woman contracted two COVID variants simultaneously · meet the baby Juicero you didn’t know you needed · Jackass star attacked by shark during stunt gone wrong · United States citizens, companies buying up New Zealand land for farming, forestry, wine-making · teardrop star reveals hidden supernova doom.

geographies: Kyneton

 

Today the post-
woman brought
me The Shorter
Oxford English
Dictionary. Such
generosity! I was
lost for words.

wednesday newstrip

Capitol rioters who deleted social media posts of their involvement may have further incriminated themselves · some 53 per cent of Republicans believe DoNuts T.®ump won last year's election & blame his loss on illegal voting; one-quarter of the overall public agreed, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed · US switched off the lights & left Bagram airbase without telling the Afghans · Ukrainian female troops march in heels, sparking outrage about 'medieval mindset' · blazing fire on ocean surface due to gas leak extinguished in Gulf of Mexico · cyber attack on US businesses through Kaseya software to be investigated for Russia links · male dragonflies lose their 'bling' in hotter climates.

Now out from sandy press

The Sasquatch that walks among us has a wide-ranging wardrobe, ranging from the stylish to the stochastic. Poems about places that may never have existed, or if they did are described in a way that makes them unrecognizable. Poems about people who did exist, but never thought the thoughts that are ascribed to them here. Poems that the Sasquatch themself has inscribed on the walls of the modern-day forest they have come out in.

The Sasquatch Walks Among Us
sandy press, California
ISBN: 978-1-7368160-2-8
direct URL: at Amazon.
$US14.95

 

Blurbs

These are poems conscious of mortality’s fate. What results is music as would be played, not in but by, dusk. Thus, wryness, anger of the type refusing to go gentle in the night, acceptance, humor, irony, and more until “the noise / divides & / the song /breaks through.” They form a read so compelling that instead of “reading out of books,” you “read things into them.” Specifically, you read your life into these poems so that you can only hope your life will have contained enough of what creates the lyric: “A light moves on the north sky line … & a world is covered with jade,” or “the moon got in / under his finger- / nails like a fragment of / a Bach cantata.” — Eileen R. Tabios

Almost all of Mark Young's poems in The Sasquatch Walks Among Us comment on current culture, society, and politics fairly directly, doing so with varying levels of wryness, dismay, and humor. This variety in attitude and emotional response makes for a consistently engaging reading experience, enhanced by a great variety of forms and perspectives in the book, including prose poems, centos, sonnets, tercets, doublets, and quatrains in various combinations, and many mixed forms. There are also some poems that use wordplay, such as the almost Lettristic “Quick!”, which riffs on the letters A and I.

In a previous book, Sorties, (sandy press, 2021), a book of essays and commentary, Young describes his influences as: “No poetry”. His writing in The Sasquatch... certainly reflects this attitude, especially in the condensed prose-like diction of many of the pieces, an enhancement of prose which is not prose at all, really. “Cento I”, part of a series interspersed throughout the book, based on Pound's Cantos, is a good example of something quite different: it is a carefully constructed, and beautiful, sonnet which shows a deep familiarity with the formal aspects and sound patterns of poetry. “No poetry” is, however, a useful frame of mind to ignore so-called influences in order to write more freely and independently, which Young certainly does extremely well. Perhaps influence is the wrong word for the experience of writing out from a swarm, or an atmosphere, a deep culture of many voices of poetry, writing against them, inside them, and writing through their swarming. It is a complex evolution within a changing context. In another poem, “Strut”, he expresses dismay at the commercialization of some poetry; Ginsberg used in a fashion show, for example. I can only say that I suspect there is little danger of Young's poetry, or that of the vast majority of poets he publishes in his essential journal Otoliths, being used that way. Which is a very good thing indeed. The Sasquatch... is a wonderful book, which challenges the mind, the emotions, and one's sense of beauty again and again. — John M. Bennett

wednesday newstrip

Mysterious mineral only ever seen in meteorites inexplicably found in sediment near the Dead Sea · Queensland Premier & the state’s Health Minister have blasted the Australian Pram Minister Scat SorrySon's Federal Feudal government over the bungled international border policy · black holes gobbling up neutron stars confirmed as source of gravitational waves for first time · mouth closing device to fight obesity causes scandal · hundreds dead as record-breaking heat wave hits Canada & United States · Apple releases beta versions of iOS15, iPadOS 15, & WatchOS 8 · intact beetle found in 230 million-year-old lizard dung.

geographies: Zumsteins