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.