Untitled poem #1

In the jungle books
the jungle is not really a place
but a state of mind.

It is easily transposed
into outer space
in the interplanetary
and science-fiction books.

The girls are similarly dressed
and similarly treated.
Torture is more refined.

If someone is to be blinded
it is done with some
extra-scientific instrument:

"Now, ye Maid of Auro,
reveal where the thorium has been hidden
or my electric prong
will burn the eyes from your pretty head."

The supermen are either
half-undressed
like their jungle brothers

or dressed
in fancy raiment that is a mixture

of the costumes of

S.S. men,

divers

and robots.

In one comic book of this group
old-fashioned mugging
—in recent years so frequently practiced by juveniles in large cities—
is a recurrent theme,
despite the interplanetary trappings.

Blood flows freely,
bosoms are half-bared,

girls'
buttocks

are
drawn

with
careful

attention.