TurpentinePaperback, 15 June 2020

Poetry. "This masterful poetry extinguishes those artificial lines that distinguish a moment from a century. It is all here and available to us, Mark Young shows. 'A late / afternoon / point of co- / incidence // this bench / in the / Botanical Gardens / shared / with Desnos / & Diogenes' reminds us nature crafts consciousness right back at us. 'Black cockatoos...small white flowers.' This against the beautiful political purity of stating the truth in 'damp trumpets.' Quote from final poem, 'Damp Trumpets': 'Where are the submarines? I shouted out. You promised you'd drain the swamp so I'd be able to see the submarines that were lying on the bottom.' Things come together from a distance above, revealing equally how far they are apart. Mark Young's keen eye disturbs predictability. He knows from many angles refutation and commingling. Pachelbel's Canon and mismatched feelings between a man and a woman."--Sheila E. Murphy