NEWSREEL IX
NEW iPHONE CONCEALS SHEER MAGIC
It can perform an incredible range of tasks
boiled cabbage
It can get stock prices, currency and price conversions, and check the weather
pitbulls, dirty bedding
It can read your email and text messages to you and let you respond,
all by voice
beans on toast
You don’t even have to hold it to your hand
two cigs, a forty
Just press the volume button to snap a photo
crunchy hair, a military knapsack
You can fire up the camera right from the lock screen
a shopping cart
Apple will periodically upgrade the brain
a place to poop
NEWSREEL VIII
pop it in the tank, bubby, the driver doesn’t mind
plastic cups and paper clips, made in China, the driver doesn’t mind
a motor bike, explosives, the driver doesn’t mind
a militant, collateral damage
a swimming pool, plastic toys, the driver doesn’t mind
hips like butter, a body donut wide, the driver doesn’t mind
a trimmed lawn, a Buick Cavalcade (the driver needs lots of room and safety)
4 militants, an AK 47
a ticky tacky in Tracy, a mortgage with Wells Fargo
collateral damage (a 2-year-old boy and his mother)
pink bottoms, pink plastic sandals, a butter-bottomed wife
a freedom fighter, plastic limbs
a flat screen
looting, surface to air, enhanced
an Ikea couch
a Kalashnikov, an IED
fried calimari, soda, soft seats
an entire village
bacon, bread, juice boxes, just open and squeeze, the driver doesn’t mind
Chrysler, Apple, Dell
Al Jazeera
a school yard
crack cocaine, healthcare
Sara Palin, Safeway, fresh local wild salmon
Fukushima, the Federal Reserve, the driver
the Israeli High Fivers
Tony Blair, armored military vehicles, the driver
curry paste, flooding, the driver, hurricanes, the UN, the driver, the driver
Trader Joes, Twitter, the driver, Facebook, a Pakistani government official
Disney Land, a drone attack, the driver, the driver, the driver,
he doesn’t mind,
he really doesn’t mind
BIO
Mira Martin-Parker earned an MFA in creative writing at San Francisco State University. Her work has appeared in various publications, including the Istanbul Literary Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Mythium, and Zyzzyva. Her collection of short stories, The Carpet Merchant’s Daughter, won the 2013 Five [Quarterly] e-chapbook competition.
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Angry Old Man 