someone had a notion to peregrinate
that someone got potted, got someone else laid
i faked a riveted smile then poked my nose
resolutely into my tummy button

the passersby took their morbid snapshots
each burst extracting the soul from time
still i did not change my compromised pose
i had no use for these silly social critiques

i took a pen and unbolted my daybook
i wrote this heading: “how i lost my summer”
buried myself alive under the rose
in hopes of rising from the grave by fall

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2016