

This poem is a sibling to yesterday’s in that it began as a verse in that Frankenpoem which did not fit in with the rest, but was an idea I liked & echoed one I’d been considering: a poem wherein Big O is a fun guy while making his way down to Hades. The title just won’t work though…
*****
shroom-zoom
took a wrong turn
shimerlight lost
not even shades
wander this way
lick water from walls
but wretched hunger
will claim me first
at least i’ll die here
perhaps my psyche
will find its way to E
only the sooty fungi
the clang of clay pots
tracking spicy spores
down into the river
at the end of the world
beginning of the universe
stars & souls & gods
all zooming by / the ache
of my internal eyes
*****
Day 21 — TIL about the Gruen Effect
the Gruen Effect
shopping malls (& casinos)
modern pilgrimage sites
fully enclosed introverted
climate-controlled faux
town squares skylight-lit food
court pleasuredomes+parking
are intentionally designed as
confusing customer traps /
disorienting / losing track
of time & space / engrossing
overwhelming experiences /
crammed with colour / bright
lights / tantalising smells / to
transport customers in/
to states of emotional
arousal / succumb to countless
tempting desires / forget their original
reason for shopping / make impulse purchases
because / they’re / available / & / attractive
\ not because \ they’re needed