fanzine, where is thy sting? online
the cabbage is only money, but connotation
draws more sustenance out of
thin grey vocabularies than a rant
coming through on shortwave or boborygmoid
channels. it’s a screen of dollars & cents.
always behind the technological 8-ball,
you used to tell me. banish my fears
with a wave of your telescope. and another
duck down the dark promised alley,
into a still darker place—that sign tells you
where to go (“they make it nice for us”),
washing your palms with light and handing
you a bottle of new experience. they’ve got
it made. they’ve made it for us to get.
a tusk spikes like sound of framing its own
understatement. now, as it starts raining,
as it does every day, every purpose
shown like lightning across the form of space…
choked down in a rage. slapped upside
the head with calm. they tell you their lies
in persuasive rhythms. tonic lulling. “that’s
just so unacceptable—how can you pass
this off, this kinda hokey spondee-driven
shallow text? this weak talk sinks all boats
the same. this drink toughens the last pause
with a dribble and a praise. drown much
lately?” “it has a beat, honey,
but it’s not dance music.”