Poetry from Mark Young

Spokane

Disillusioned by

what was going

on around him

he tried to open

his life in another

window but was

never able to get

past the pop-ups.

Career Paths

At thirteen he decided to become a prophet. By nineteen he had died & been reborn five times. Nobody took him seriously. Youth is a hard barrier to overcome.


He then decided to emulate the form of regeneration that seemed to have been most successful for generating prophet recognition & had himself crucified. Unfortunately, one of the nails was rusty, & during the transition period he contracted tetanus. He came back unable to speak, & essentially illiterate since so certain had he been of his destiny he had neglected to acquire much of an education.


Nobody wants a prophet who cannot communicate his prophesies. He spent the rest of his allotted three-score & ten in silence. Alone.

nOne-step

Nothing ad-

ventured

nothing

gained

when you

rely on

toxicology

instead

of taste.

Otherwise

partly because the sun

was in an

inclement meridian

partially because

the moon was

in the wrong

quadrant of the sky

particularly because

the cusp between

daydream & nightmare

was a silver ribbon

with elastic properties

Ella in Budapest

Something I have always

found disappointing,

hearing a singer in concert,

hearing a recording of that

singer somewhere else, some

years later. The same song,

The Lady is a Tramp, music by

straight George, lyrics by gay

Ira, Ella Fitzgerald singing.

The voice a little harsher than

I remember but the phrasing is

the same. I sing along. We impro-

vise together. In unison. I know

what notes will come next.

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