Poems by Mark Young

LEITMOTIF

How we react is determined by
grimacing in the sudden sharp light &
the actions of clouds on the distant
hills, the morning we've had, thoughts
that come bouncing back from a time
we thought had been left behind us. We,
grimacing in the sudden sharp light, are
orphans — I was about to say urchins,
& perhaps that is also true — out of
luck & also out of time, out of one cliché
& clinging hopefully & hopelessly to
another, grimacing in the sudden sharp
Light. Catalytic converters cascade down
the face of Witwatersrand, setting the
dogs barking, setting off klieg lights
in every circus between there & the Cape,
causing the elephant to leave the room
grimacing in the sudden sharp light.


AVUNCULAR ODALISQUES

As the second & third syllables
suggest, word-counting was the
rage in the interregnum of World
War II. Hopes of avoiding blood-

shed faded: the shelling of the open
parts of towns gave rise to too many
anagrams; Hemingway's Death in
the Afternoon shot to the top of the

bestseller lists. Now the clicking of
abaci accompanies any walk in the
markets. Exchange rates are no longer
seen, replaced by the current rate for

dissecting an average-sized novel, the
occasional "Python used here" sign.
& from the doorways the ubiqui-
tous question: "Are you my uncle?"