Mark Salerno lives in Los Angeles, where he edits Arshile.





Small World

The light fluctuates its fallen glitter
moon over Hollywood even the words dream
if only it were time to bandy or subject
I used to be feeling now I am a penny arcade
thanks to all that's gone wrong so far
you are merely visible waiting anything
and for these veils to be lifted as when
we awake as good as another from dreams
I hate that Picasso and Newton screwed up
science and the Renaissance was a mistake
I love the light before the blue and the
time it takes to be here it is the role
of the straw for people who truckle it is
sheepy time it's good times it's any time.






Feathery Surf Revisited

As a letter might begin to lift this agency
of song a clear glossy blue edging out here
I never stood inside the soft summer rain
mine was a set piece for brightening the air
dear blank I am lonely dear blank dear blank
I was every place I went with my brief case
as you are inside and I am off to the side
a memory piece including fried clams at HoJo's
and the midway at Old Orchard in late August
twenty years later the Renaissance was a mistake
I never stood inside the glowing morning fog
that was air that was a memory of air as if
the penny arcades and lengthening shadows
would now demand as we do more pieces of light.