Rejoinders to Mitochondrial Reality (or, Red Sharpe Extends Literary Amnesty)

I’ve been in the audience

I’ve been in the wings

I’ve been center stage

Entered the library cold

Nothing on hold

I found gold

I worked hard

I struggled constantly

They othered me mercilessly

They tried to dis me of my enchantment

They capped my handy

They hacked my Spotify list

But I have always believed

There is bonus content in every eternity

There is eternity in every promo code

A session of garment rending is worth

7X journeys to recovery

One interface under god

There’s a scene where

I traject from floormat

To footstool to recliner

To where I’m sitting in a distinguished chair

Life-affirmingly robust 

Living among the 1 percent

Smart, dark, and rich

Hotbeds of old growth discourse 

Deep chat and cosplay

Killed a lot but also

Left a slew unslain

For future stack clippers

I did it for all humanity

And it helps that I’m amazing

He notes with a laugh 

I could put in a zipper and 

At the same time

Accompany myself on a lyre

Every work an ode

First Folio quality

Focused, powerful and clear

Heartfelt expressions 

Like Manga dolls

Dangling from backpacks

The King James version of baristas asks

Is whole life OK

Perfect

Born to redefine and reimagine

Ever-present and trending

I can still kill it with plectrum stirred strings

At the same time killing the flipper buttons

On a classic pinball machine

But you get bored always doing the impossible

So I retired some million years ago.

Taking some solace in that

Not all cookie cutters are soulless

Yet as one whose heart is 

Informed by the larger narratives

I found myself lost

I turned up missing

Bumping my own ring tone

Even my footwear choices were sketch

I literally had to tell my brother

I’ve heard great things about you

143 inches of rain fell

A sign I’m sure

That being said

I just told

Myself like hey

Theorize all you want

Can’t lay off the fine print

Textea, chatea

Dactylic hexameter

Seasoned blends

It’s time to reoffend

Reclaim the stoke

(That’s right Miss Spotty Thunderstorms)

So on I slathered water-resistant sunscreen

Gonna mob this water slide of life

Shooting super-fast 

Mix and match being my ethos

Highway 99 without leaving home

The very best of lives

Louisiana Cajun sausage 

Sixteen ounces of 5-Hour Energy Extra

Meeting the moment, the forever moment

The thousand terracotta pickleball players

Unearthed at an excavation site in Panorama City 

Everybody’s talking about moment.

Copyright 2025 Randy Stark

www.randystark.com