Earthbound

But me and her, me and her remember those days.

I gave her five stars in sound and playability.

She returned the compliment: five in entertainment and replay value.

As the most volcanically active body in the solar system

She valorized my brush strokes and solid rocket boosters

And imbricated the bricolage 

With cries of Fill ‘er up! and Play ball!

We hauled Mexican loads of hourglass sand across a floating bridge,

Along with tee shirts, musical instruments, luggage, shoes,

Weapons, writing implements, purses, jewelry,

And “exquisitely meme-able” methamphetamine.

Then there was the romance of felony evading,

Enhanced by the possession of an unregistered firearm or three.

Her daughter’s boyfriend did magic tricks with titles and deeds.

Now I lure black widows out of the patio furniture

Using masks and brass knuckles as PPE.

Lilith practices her tuba

While watching live televised gender reveal parties.

Umbrellas pop open in the closet.

A window falls from the wall.

Every door needs a frame if it’s going to swing both ways.

© 2020 Randy Stark

Please visit my website at www.randystark.com and my page at Write Up The Road.



I

from yesterday's Head Light

On the Daily






















randystark.com

Who's That Kitty?

That’s Bella on the cover. Bella died last Saturday. A sad weekend for sure. She was buried in a plot next to the graves of two other pet cats. I helped dig the grave and set up a headstone and marker of sorts made from paving stones and garden bricks. That was after a busy, in the heat, hour and a half of preparing the gravesite, clearing the brush and weeds that had accumulated and all but obliterated the two other graves and markers over the past however long it’s been since we’ve been up there.

As far as my shameless promoting, I’m not above it, plus I knew Bella and she would be o.k. with it.

Please visit my website at www.randystark.com and my page at Write Up The Road.

Somewhere Over the Radar

Third parties be my tribe.
A PBR blue-ribbon commission
Meeting in freshly smoked courthouses
Cuz guilty feet have got no rhythm.

The fiber optics of peace and freedom reveals
Open seating on the planning committee
In the Department of Behavioral Hell
And trappers after apps and games,

A crusade, a parade,
An esplanade of
Laureates and angels,
Organic and fair trade

At a classic seaside arcade,
Sycophants and enablers,
Great bright whales,
Sweep hands on demand,

Cutting figure eights and
Intertwinkled gift cards,
Or side bars we once told ourselves,
All eyes decimalphobic translucidities

Alighting on fall’s most fabulous looks.
The biggest names on proactive duty,
A promenade of boots and blockchains,
The freshest skew.

True, mixture problems are tabu.
But I can tell you the number of followers
And likes of every lemon lemur
In the selfie line that lumbers across

El Puente de los Esposos y Sanchos,
Every blood orange butterfly,
Every air borne pathogen
Seated around any given redwood table.

Come on generation next available
Experience the fun,
Put your hands together,
Discover a new world of flavor.

Stay connected while on the go!
Call, click or visit.
Ask an agent.
Talk to your doctor.



© 2020 Randy Stark

Please visit my website at www.randystark.com and my page at Write Up The Road.

Outtakes

Dozens, if not hundreds of thousands

Hair dryers with wings,

All of them insured.

The copper tufted loggerheads,

Flocking through Elephant Pass,

Immune to their past.

If one life is saved

I’ve already had it,

Three if by microwave.

The pilot is on auto pilot.

Pussy Riot is the co-pilot.

Hidden icons occupy window seats.

Through my pince nez

Cicerone Playing in F-sharp minor.

What you see is what you hear.

Nice on nice.

She joys me.

But there is a lot of thing happen.

Nobody wants more than the next person more than I do.

High end results.

Urethane quality at rubber prices.

Simple, like I.

I love you from very long,

All inclusive.

There are all kynza stay at home orders

Before tranquility becomes

Ubiquity itself.

© 2020 Randy Stark

Please visit my website at www.randystark.com and my page at Write Up The Road.

From Saturday's Head Light

http://writeuptheroad.com/how-to-put-yourself-in-cinderellas-shoes-without-stepping-in-it/

Pants in the Cloud

"Dancer" by Mikhail Larionov

U SHIR NO HOW 2 PURSWAY A PURSON

My ears are ring like basketball.

I am so totally relax.

All my devices are charge.

Stoop end us.

CROSSROADS CHURCH

Watch for foot traffic.

THE POEM CONSISTS OF

three

couplets

one

word

per

line

WAITING TO HEAR BACK FROM MY CREATOR

Tryna relax.

CHRISTMAS TREE (1)

The real way to do it?

Go to an actual forest and cut one down.

CHRISTMAS TREE (2)

The tree is happiest

In a cool room

Near a sunny window

Away from cold drafts

And heating vents.

A CLEAN SOLUTION

Super gentle, super easy,

Ultra safe, ultra free,

Anti-bullying, anti-bling,

From floor to ceiling,

That kind of thing

SLACKER LACKS SLACKS

Pants in the cloud.

OF COURSE SHE’S NOT PICKING UP

She’s dead.

NOT SECRETLY

Sincerely.

MEMORIES OF THE DINER

Selecting a sweetener from the sugar caddy.

SPECIAL JURY MENTION

Super cute.

THE WAY HE SAID IT

3.2 billion insects euthanized.

TRAPEZE

No it’s up.

They got it up.

© 2020 Randy Stark

Please visit my website at www.randystark.com and my page at Write Up The Road.

Find a Line and Wait In It

I'm not buying the bright side because come next catastrophe they'll be back, the mewlers and pukers, stuffing their Tuff Sheds with toilet paper.

Ain't nothing going to change. People who don’t deserve to will still come out smelling like roses, and you still won't be able to touch. 

We’ve gone from “We’ll get through this” to “We’ll see what happens” to “When’s my check arriving?” From sheltering in place to second and third responders sweeping up the dead.

Besides, as Hilarious Clinton nearly said: “What the hell difference does it make now? I ain’t got no toilet paper anyhow.”

No more the exception that proves the rule; now, the exception is the rule.

So, wear your mask, keep your distance, find a line and wait in it.

© 2020 Randy Stark

Please visit my website at www.randystark.com and my page at Write Up The Road.

At Towne Pointe

I’m afraid of your eyes, they’re so bold,
Searching me through, reading my thoughts, shining like gold.

---Claude McKay

Ptolemeo and Utami

Clambered onto stools

In a world not hostile to queer and indigenous people.

Snow in higher elevations.

He’s an overstated minimalist.

She’s an understated modernist.

Never dreamed.

Always dreamed.

If you’re not going to look what’s the point of seeing?

If you’re not going to listen what’s the point of hearing?

He’s super nice.

Head of customer cash back.

She’s a surgical nurse at the university hospital.

Runs marathons.

My fiancée is still close with a guy she hooked up with in college.

Yeah, my husband.

I don’t know how to answer those kinds of questions.

No no, you’re totally good.

We begin to rassle

I was on the top

---Sly & the Family Stone

© 2020 Randy Stark

http://writeuptheroad.com/randy-stark/

http://www.randystark.com/

"Properties of Scale and Reflectivity"

Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles; Frank Gehry, architect

Signs, omens, auguries, portents: my mask broke; the ripple effect spiraling out of control; it’s a felony to yell “Virus” on a crowded beach; the great toilet paper riots of 2020; Thursday used to be the new Friday, but now it’s in the middle of the week. The new workweek begins Wednesday. It goes Wednesday, Sunday, Thursday, Monday, and Saturday, with Tuesday and Friday being the weekend. Thursday is the new Hump Day. This refinement is not limited to days of the week. The light we know as five o’clock will now be six. Months are in the crosshairs as well. There’s this month and next month, but after that?

The Pope is no help. He blames us for wrecking God’s creation, and this is what we deserve. “You’ve had it coming” he tells us. Somebody needs to in-box the Pope, shoot him a text, tell him to stay in his own lane.

I recently read Paradise Lost, so I’m an authority.

And in the regular mail today arrives an envelope, prepared in London, for me, from the London Review of Books. LRB. They’re counting on life returning to normal, pre-virus, BCV (as Terri Jenkins-Brady pointed out).

My Head Light blog post titled "Properties of Scale and Reflectivity" contains excerpts from the internet concerning residual effects of the lockdown on the "classical" art world.

www.randystark.com

www.writeuptheroad.com

Up and Up and Up

REMEMBER HIM?

Asian guy.

Tall Asian guy.

All gray on each side here.

Very little on the top.

Even to this day.

Very little on top.

SHE’S ALL LIKE THIS

And I’m like this

Only I’m like this.

FIVE MINUTES LATER

Completely the opposite.

HOW TO IMPROVE YOURSELF THIS MONTH

Brain implant.

More salad.

IT WAS QUITE A PARTY

He’s quite a guy.

HYPOTENUSE

Giraffe eating leaves.

I DON’T KNOW BUT

Two people quit this weekend

And another guy got suspended

In the department I work in.

CHASM

Between cushions

From which he pulls

Is this yours?

PETE WAS AT THE FUNERAL

Al did his hair, too.

DREAMS

And they weren’t cheap either.


I TESTED POSITIVE

For jouissance.

IT KEEPS GOING UP AND UP AND UP

Mine just went up again.

© 2020 Randy Stark

http://writeuptheroad.com/randy-stark/

http://www.randystark.com/