ABOUT

CONTENTS

EDITORIAL

ARCHIVE

LAGNIAPPE

MAST

SUBMISSIONS

Two Poems
by Sandy Florian


Balloon

A blown globe of double leather struck high and low by an arm defended by a bracer of wood. And. The game played with such a globe. Or. A ball of pasteboard stuffed with combustible matter which, when fired from a mortar, mounts to the sky then bursts into the brighter stars. A rondure placed on a pillar to crown it. As. A circular or gracefully rounded object. Or. An airtight envelope of pear-shaped silk which, when inflated with the lighter gasses, rises high into the air. To large balloons, a basket strong enough to carry human beings is attached. For use for. Observation of atmospheric disturbance. Military reconnoitering. And. As a means for wandering toward the moon. For. If this ship can skip you from the earth to the stars whenever your windy blows do bound, I choose to harness this helium. I confine it in a varnished silk and depend on the principles of buoyant force. For. According to Archimedes, a body submerged is buoyed by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the body. Or. If b represents buoyancy and w the weight of the displaced, I eat the experimental gum. I turn blue and inflate like a giant balloon. While you. Floating in your own ship. Make rounded shadows on the greener grounds.

A goblet with two short necks used to receive products of a distillation. As. Interpose a large glass between retort and recipient. Or. Let me pass through your glass balloon. I see through this glass so darkly. And. I suffer from another synovial inflammation. For. The stars are darkled by your opaque orb.

On the other hand, a colloquial term used for any event. As when I ask, “What time does the balloon go up?” you understand, “When is the parade of your home coming home?” and reply so dryly, “Merely because I gave you a beery kiss in the bar, you can’t believe the whole balloon’s going up.”

Anything inflated, empty, and hollow. As. A batsman who has failed to win points gets a blob, a balloon, a goose. The container for words in comic engravings, as issued from the mouths of cartoon people. Otherwise. From their heads. As. Diabolical sentiments were represented as issuing from his head in fat balloons. But. If b represents buoyancy, and you are struck with such wanderlust, I am all blown up like a penny balloon. And. My hands feel just like two balloons. For. I am once again struck by the same solid ceiling. In another ballroom ball.


Elevator

An ascending chamber used for raising bodies high in buildings. Or. A platform raised in a vertical passage to transport people and their freight. A surface attached to a stabilizer for the production of. Upward motions. Or. A bucket attached to a conveyor for hoisting. A granary equipped with devices for discharging. A surgical instrument used to raise sunken parts. Like fragments of bone. Or. For separating contiguous parts. But. If this chamber can ascend you to the highest heavens, I insist that I am sinking. Or. That I am stuck. Sick like any seasick sailor. For. This elevator is spinning. Or. This elevator has come loose in its shaft. And. I have this dream where we are listening to elevator music. And. You cover my mouth with tape. For. A dental instrument for the removal of teeth. Or. The part of tooth that can’t be gripped.

Two elevators. A crowd of ten mounts the left. There’s no room for me and my tree. The door to the right. And. You are on the elevator. I struggle. It’s me and my tree. But. You push a button with scalloped edges. White button the color of pearl. And. There’s someone crying on the loudspeaker.

A muscle which raises limb or bone. As. The tendinous flesh that opens the jaw. Or. One of the two flat joints of the maxillary feelers. As. In hive or humble, the elevator has not two but four joints. For. Cables with a cabin at one end and counterweights at the other. Pass first over the driver, then over the idler, and back over the driver. For. A motor in either direction. Operated by levers. What would happen if the cabin should fall? Watch the powerful steel jaws of the cabin clamping. Like the elevator flesh that clamps my wrists.