Five Poems by Mark Young

 

A sidereal timetable 

 

To the best of my — 

admittedly — limited 

knowledge, there are  

something like seven 

trillion galaxies in 

the universe I have 

yet to visit. It is my 

intention to have  

 

seen them all by 

3.30 p.m. on Thursday 

March 2, 2028. I 

consider three years 

to be sufficient time  

to achieve the goal.

  

 

 

Ritual 

 

Life is ritual. Is  

personal. How to tell 

if some last act of 

dreaming truncates the 

night. Check the garden  

for weeds, cut back  

some bushes. Plants  

do not grow as you  

want them to. Ants 

move back & forth 

across the wall in a 

disturbed depiction  

of their DNA.

 

 

Bent Light 

 

Given room to move  

or shaken by shadows.  

 

My Wunderkammer, my  

cabinet of curiosities – to 

 

me at least. To others 

they may be everyday 

 

artifacts, tools, or talis- 

mans to avoid the gods.  

 

I call them constructs.  

What I make of them is  

 

what they make of me. Un- 

hidden, but not displayed.

 

 

 

Dietary Fiber 

 

Is it 

unfair 

that in 

leaving  

things 

for others 

 

I leave  

things 

unfed 

unsaid 

within  

myself?

 

The Principles of Education 

 

No matter how 

you look at it 

it seems in- 

stinctive to know  

what’s right. There- 

fore you’d think 

no need of teach- 

ing, & yet we’re 

 

taught — most- 

ly what’s wrong is 

right. Instinctively 

rebel; & spend our 

time trying to un- 

teach ourselves. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark Young's most recent books, all published this year, are the downloadable pdf, The Hit List, published by Scud Editions; Gravel (with harry k stammer & Mark Cunningham), from Sandy Press;  Some Unrecorded Voyages of Vasco da Gama, from Otoliths; another downloadable pdf, Closed Environment, from Neo-Mimeo Editions; & The Complete Post Person Poems, also from Sandy Press.