Saturday, September 13, 2025

We’re Here for Your Journey

Please hold handrails while moving through the menu.
For media insight deficiency, press 1.
For more comfortable idling, press 2.
For de-aging technology, press 3. 
For digital liquidation and penetrants, press 4.
For transgressive narrative interrogation, press 5.
For intramodality, hallucination, or model bias, press 6.
For whammy bars, press 7.
For precept upon precept, press 8.
For raw timeless pathos, please remain on the line
And your call will be answered in the order received.

Emboldened by new GPS enterprise capabilities
Our project architects (not their real name) go scorched earth
Utilizing modernized positioning, navigation and timing
To create user personas and design workflows that
Optimize performance capture
From fast casual to sustainable luxury
Grunge and skank with hints of eucalyptus
Plus high-end five-star premium trending
Bespeaking a deeper empathy for sufferers
Bouncing off digital guardrails on roadways
Nowhere to be found, not even on Google maps.


Copyright 2025 Randy Stark

 


Saturday, September 6, 2025

Transformational Gatekeeping


BREAKING NEWS

Gold gains.



REPPING YOUR SPONSOR(S) 24/7 

Survival 101.



AI

Alterity incarnate.



SKIP THE PRELIMINARIES

It’s a separate app.



MEAT DEPARTMENT LINE FIVE PLEASE

Meat, line five.



YOUR EVERY NEED

Got a team on it.



IMAGINE

If it’s not in the AI
It never was.
And I was like 
Oh wow.



SCRIPTER

Long been hailed.
Good with prompts.
A year later
Dead.



ILIAD, THE

2 much war.



TARA DIAL TWO TWO TWO

Tara, two two two.



PRACTICE AND THEORY 

Simple skirt and matching blouse.



GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE

Drive fast and recklessly
And make poor choices.



GOD WHEN YOU POOP

Is it holy?
Do you smell?
Are you sure?



LIVING HOPE SERVICE TIMES

Polyester, nylon and spandex.



INSTANT QUOTE

Shut up Satan.
Get out.
I do not wish to speak with you.




Copyright 2025 Randy Stark

 


 

Saturday, August 30, 2025

All I Could Think About, Late-Night Viewing Habits

To the global phenomenon encountered
At the document shredding event 
Immediately sure to be my favorite follow
Her feed forever mine.

Her smile a deep house blend
Vibey with insider knowledge
She’s aint gone to school
Just to ride the bus.

Fiercely compelling
Fiercely tender
Nice and thicc
Thighs to dies for.

I want to synch biolinguistically 
I want a piece of that vulcanized wallop
But the only prime I get
Anymore is from Amazon.

So I aint did nothing
I aint said shit
But I appreciate her kindness
Entrusting me with a knowing smile.



Copyright 2025 Randy Stark

Saturday, August 23, 2025

Swansong for Paradise

With global temperatures set at sweat lodge 
And celebrity chefs baked into audio landscapes
And wingless wasps DMing their asses off
With everything all regulated and shit
Vis-a-vis green barrel waste
The pot calling the kettle 
Sewage overflow
Random errors in duplication
Guitars with twelve necks.

I get no kicks in subverting expectations
But things be turning gnarlier
And I’m pretty gutted about it
Scientists and experts agree
Permafrost ain’t perma no mo
And that’s why your dog 
He’s a honey of a sleeper I mean but
You made the qualifying purchases
You earned the bonus miles.

And there you are chewing off your own mind
Tryna free yourself from the brands
Tryna extricate yourself from the apps
Stuck at the wrong gate of the wrong airport
In the wrong capital of the wrong country
On the wrong continent of the wrong planet
In the wrong galaxy of the wrong universe
I mean that to me
Serious alarm bells.


Copyright 2025 Randy Stark

Saturday, August 16, 2025

A Couple of Ways of Looking at It

What went wrong No glasses Underdressed No croissant No books Goddamit send me their number But the pier The bodies It’s good I hate myself soft talking And then you know because I’m not a techie But I’m following I’m so on edge and so look St. Margaret breaks her silence At some point it becomes abandonment Crushed dried cured Money in public looks funny Shopping colorful vegetables and fruits Squash and peppers Heh You’re so funny Stripes and solids When are you due Shapes and forms I’m going home and then I’m going home for the weekend and then I’m going home tomorrow and then I’m going home. People wanting to look good Carlos dial 109 Carlos 109 please Donut holes for all of us I knownjajajaha 

What went wrong
No glasses
Underdressed
No croissant
No books
Goddamit send me their number

But the pier
The bodies
It’s good
I hate myself soft talking

And then you know because I’m not a techie
But I’m following
I’m so on edge and so look

St. Margaret breaks her silence
At some point it becomes abandonment

Crushed dried cured 
Money in public looks funny

Shopping colorful vegetables and fruits
Squash and peppers

Heh
You’re so funny
Stripes and solids
When are you due
Shapes and forms

People wanting to look good
Carlos dial 109 Carlos 109 please
I’m going home and then 
I’m going home for the weekend and then 
I’m going home tomorrow and then 
I’m going home.
Donut holes for all of us
I knownjajajaha


Copyright 2025 Randy Stark

Saturday, August 9, 2025

The Space Between Solids

Julian of Everywhere, bracketologist and
Seasoned captivating electronic presence
They kind of like pivoted to streaming
Fell hard for the rich creamy formula
Anything for the clip
And slipped into the abyss of
Smug self-assurance meets crazy bag of
US No.1 grown-in-Idaho potato chips
Lost their shit
Faced heavy cancellation fees
100% derailed. 

Pivoted to screaming
Same endzone, different field
Bundled aggro-cultural babble with
High risk metonymy
A whole new echo system
Maratón en Chihuahua
Parachutes in Shinjuku
But the exit strategy didn’t work
Went right to free falling like it was voice mail
Sheltering in place on the way down
And then come to find out they weren’t covered.


Copyright 2025 Randy Stark

 

 

Saturday, August 2, 2025

Congrats to subTerrain Magazine Issue #100

As part of the celebration, Issue #100 contains several pieces “from the vault”, and I’m honored to have a story of mine (from the vault indeed: circa 1992, Issue #8) among them.


 Issue #100