in quarantine

from the archives

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Today the
postman brought
me his pandemic
polemic. Stood
1.5 meters away
to argue that

so much of the
population was
so confused &
troubled by the
many conflicting
opinions being
bandied around

that a polemic
pandemic would
inevitably break out
& consume the planet
given the eminently
suitable conditions for
exponential growth.

geographies: Barratta

wednesday newstrip

Ancient hornwort genomes could lead to crop improvement · a custom Tom Nook emoji has been added to Twitter for a limited time · mysterious Ice Age structure made from hundreds of mammoth bones discovered in Russia · Joe PoliBident's pledge to name a woman as running mate fires speculation · sewers overflow after becoming blocked with wet wipes, tissues & paper towels as Australia feels the full brunt of the toilet roll crisis · Covid-19 ban: more than 100 Australian doctors & dentists attending a conference stuck on cruise ship off Chile ·'parents are voting with their feet:' School attendance rates in freefall.

bigotry

wednesday newstrip

geographies: Santarém

wednesday newstrip

Coronavirus concerns see Catholic Church recommend changes to holy communion & holy water practices · 'It isn't Mad Max': Police warning after shoppers brawl over toilet paper in Sydney · run ANDROID on an iPhone? Are you SERIOUS?!? · DoNuts T.®ump claimed America is in 'great shape' amid coronavirus outbreak during rambling Wheat House remarks · leftover fruit waste could be all you need to charge your phone in the not-so-distant future, according to researchers at the University of Sydney · asteroid warning: Earth at risk of being burnt to cinder like dinosaurs, says expert · ready to move to London? The Queen wants a cleaner.

geographies: Andromache

In the land of artiodactyl mammals

wednesday newstrrip

Busker bashed with own ukulele in Adelaide's Rundle Mall during Fringe performance · the depressant T.®ump allegedly ruined a deal with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi because he said: "It’s not like you’ve got China on your border" · woman plays violin while undergoing brain surgery to ensure musical skills not affected · MIT scientists create system to defend against killer asteroids · Netflix "is an obvious beneficiary if consumers stay home due to coronavirus (COVID-19 virus) concerns, & this has been reflected in considerable stock price outperformance this week" · the largest unnamed world in the solar system now has a name: Gonggong.

geographies: Bing Bong

wednesday newstrip

The Diamond Princess cruise ship is, according to the promo material, "a treasure trove of exceptional delights waiting to be discovered" · scientists just watched a newfound asteroid zoom by Earth: then they saw its moon · the Antarctic has reached a temperature of more than 20 degrees for the first time · human rights groups call on Australian Pram Minister Scat SorrySon to confront DoNuts T.®ump over landmines · Galaxy S20 Ultra's 5,000mAh battery charges in 58min with the 45W charger · at least 6 celebrities are showing off new face tattoos which include a sneaker & bloody buzz saw · Boy Scouts of America file for bankruptcy amid sex abuse cases · astronomers want public funds for intelligent life search, say they'll start their quest with Earth.

geographies: Aramac

my new collection

turning to drones
Concrete Mist Press
$US14.95
available through Amazon

These compelling poems exhibit, through their concise and wide-ranging vocabulary, forms, and referents, an extraordinary skill at revealing directly and/or indirectly a strong and authentic engagement with the human world and its problems, and with how those problems reverberate in the consciousness and emotions of the poet/experiencer. There is a concern throughout, laced with considerable irony, with the conflict or contrast between current affairs and culture and a more coherent or more desirable value-based world which may have existed in the distant or more recent past, or at least in the hopes of our species: “Something about a conflation of / music & power, both of which can / be seen as a series of 'lines' on / photographic film. The literature / on the subject is immense, usually / in high quality peer-reviewed full- / text publications, & embellished / with consumer reviews & price com- / parisons...” A kind of double vision forms many of these poems, expressed tautologically at times, as if the same thing said twice were different each time: “I am writing the / introduction to a / book of dreams. This / is the first dream.” This leads to a truly engaging enigma or ambiguity in which a meaning means something else: “...tendency of parents to give / projects based around lexical statistics / means dictionaries will pop up before / you're even halfway into the entry / vestibule.” This, I believe, is the most important function of poetry, to remove that membrane of social constructs that form our perceptions of “reality”.

Young's skill with language and form is in itself a source of delight in this book. For example, his forms include sonnets, non-stanzaic structures, structures with widely variant stanza arrangements, a poem with the title at the end, a poem consisting only of questions, poems in the form of an ambiguous and elliptical internet exchange, the use of punctuation as visual elements, blocks of apparently disconnected words as a mantra, prose poems, and others. In short this book is a delight, full of humor, irony, dismay, mysterious and stimulating conjunctions of the things that form human life. — Dr. John M. Bennett

In his new collection, turning to drones, as in his numerous other books, Mark Young uses language, especially, English and French, as raw material and flexible elements for associative and collage compositions that are often challenging to decode—if decoding is desirable, necessary, or intended at all. Young, who has produced at least one collector's item, the vispo book, les échiquiers effrontés (Luna Bisonte Prods, 2018), provides his readers with no easy answers, sharing his perceptions of real or imagined events, spaces, beings, and experiences—fractured by disparate interests and historical narratives having social, political, and personal import. One can always count on this author's work to deliver imagery, innovative form, humor, and “language play,” while, at the same time, refusing to offer easy answers and determinant significance. Like all Postmodern creations, meaning remains in the mind of the reader, and Young's surrealist influences infuse his oeuvre with “interpretive power”—inquiries, complex juxtapositions, spliced elements, dream analysis, and other psychological effects. If you appreciate or are curious about, innovative literature, turning to drones will reward you with the above-mentioned pleasures and will highlight, as well, the author's penchant for creating short poems and stand-alone titles—one-line poetic fragments with their own aesthetic qualities. Mark Young is among the most notable contemporary text and vispo artists whose new offering will enrich your sensory and intellectual life.
— Clara B. Jones, Knowledge Worker, Silver Spring, MD, USA

geographies: Campaspe

wednesday newstrip

Australian bushfires a sign that asteroid 'will destroy Earth in 10 years' · scientists find evidence of 'ghost population' of ancient humans · South American turtle was as big as a car & built for battle · recording 8K video with a Galaxy S20 will take a toll on storage, but not as much as you think · a West Australian primary school has been branded “un-Australian” over its “offensive” decision to ban cupcakes & lolly bags for birthdays, with the backlash forcing it to put the decree on hold · Homophobic Affairs Minister Putrid Dustbin says a High Court ruling that Aboriginal Australians cannot be considered "aliens" under the constitution will be exploited & have "significant repercussions" · the T.®ump maladministration has offered oil companies a chunk of the American west & the Gulf of Mexico to extract fossil fuels that’s four times the size of California.

geographies: Mingela

Two recent sonnets from Series Magritte

Foolhardy

The dance floor is con-
fined by mountains of
ice. The ice is also on the
dance floor but is not
for dancing on, though
some have tried. Have
failed. So badly that
they need to call upon

another of their other
selves who also have
come crashing down. A
lesson learnt. Not even
the fanciest mustache can
improve one's balance.



L'esprit comique

Unable to see out, & sick
of being adorned with
flowers or vines or those
ugly plaques made from
clay that have the faces of
Roman gods embossed
upon them, the trellis has
decided to escape. Donned

disguise & cut it to shape.
Certainly ends up making
it a figure of fun; but it's
fine to breathe through, &
light enough to stride easily
over miles of countryside.