Raymond Farr
OPUS CALIFORNIUM
[page 24]
Raymond Farr
OPUS CALIFORNIUM
[page 24]
Obsessed with pg. 24
of the record Gregor Mendel
kept of his experiments
in agri-alchemy-melancholia
(out west of vowels—1/2 text,
1/2 spawn—
mutating like cells
in a parked SUV),
the grim padres of abominations
abandoned (too
soon) their quest for purer californium
(a protean element) / their flirtation
with substances
not occurring in nature—
i. e. purer californium.
& damaged, & deranged,
by legacies of less than perfect progeny,
they analyzed cycles
of their own inveterate defecation—
texture, aroma, size, time of day
but found only miscellanea
[c.f. pg. 24]
prophylactic as flesh
aching thru morning’s inexorable
mutations
un-
[progeny of isotopes]
stable.(ImPerf-
Ect.) etc. etc.—the experiment
posterity makes
of radiant darkness.
Raymond Farr lives in Ocala, Fla. His work appears both online & in print at Otoliths, Bird Dog, 580 Split, Dusie, Xstream, Venereal Kittens, WordFor/Word, Apocryphal Text, Success, Coupremine, foam:e, Cricket Online Review, & 88: A Journal of Contemporary American Poetry & Poetics. His self published chapbooks are available free by email: r.farr@worldnet.att.net.
Other works on Sidebrow: “Pg. 24” A Pseudo-Litany, Being Lines Written by Anon., Journal Entry: 12-26-05, Dear Nadine,, Bought Me a Mannequin Named Papa to Love With All My Heart & Even in Stone Events Make Surf (as little else is steeple)