Mark Gilbert

Dactyl

aka

Sonnet #8

quicksilver obscenities

autopsies unspeakable

practices identified

histamine periphery

atrophied transparency

skeleton thermometer

pancreas gelatinous

misshapen hysteria

tentative penicillin

hideous intermissions

meaningless decompression

casual strangulation

literally iridescent

dreamily protoplasmic

NOTES

• history - a 12-line keyboard-driven poem tracking the evolution of 'history' into 'his story'. It is centered.

• Viewing the photograph two months later - originally written after a photo prompt. The lines are centered within limits set to generate two words per line in close to a rectangular box.

• Dactyl / aka / Sonnet #8 - Two verses again centered. Formal meter, including dactyls. A title and an alternative title (because it's the 8th sonnet I'd written at the time). Found poem: the words were selected non-randomly from 'The Naked Lunch' by William S. Burroughs, pages 64-68 of the Paladin 1986 edition.