"Zurich" and "Whakatane"
Whakatane
The accurate & eloquent
Wordsworth would have
had little sympathy for the
inane phraseology of the Health
authorities working around
the clock to try to determine
if the men who had gone
ashore were sympathizers of
the French Revolution. Few
concepts, he said, are
as central to humanity as
the innocence of the dead.
Zurich
The gnomes are bored
with being enigmatic. Have
dumped the seasonally
changing menu &
its old world sensibilities—
the summery chic of
Gucci's classic synth-pop
with inflected voice, the
yodelling electronic loops
of Dolce & Gabana's
winter spectroscopy—in
favor of a one size fits
all &, at the same time,
hyper-masculine &
exceedingly feminine
morphological de-
composition. Even
more dissonant, with
scratchy feedback. But
still manages to keep
precise time under water.
Mark Young was born in Aotearoa / New Zealand but now lives in a small town in North Queensland in Australia. He is the author of more than sixty books, the most recent of which are with the slow-paced turtle replaced by a fast fish, published by Sandy Press in May, 2023, & a free downloadable chapbook of visuals & poems, Mercator Projected, published by Half Day Moon Press in August 2023. Mark recommends the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.