Author Archives: Tony Single

a life not lived

stale memories in the cupboard
forgotten dusty souvenirs
that shirt you used to wear to church
the viola case on which you’d perch
those magazines with bums & tits
that more wholesome mickey mouse pin
you found on the path two streets over
near to the white cliffs of dover
the tin with lollies stuck together
mint & lemon with orange peels
‘twould be best to not partake
of these out-of-date belly quakes
faded photos with shabby corners
also out-of-date, make the heart shake
the more years fly, the more’s at stake
for lives with dead dreams in their wake

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2019

cold (comfort for the oligarch)

you were a child once
played hide & seek with the truth
smothered your world with a smile
silenced hearthlands with all guile

you held more than the rest of them
more than lifetimes could ever feed
cultivated deafness to their pleas
while touching the lichen on trees

empathy is plebeian
do as i say, not as i do

you held dominion o’er anthills
had them burned ‘neath your lens of rage
watched them scatter into entropy
as you & the bison trammelled lea

you felt so superior
& equally felt misunderstood
self-made with all the scaffolding
afforded you in childhood’s spring

empathy is plebeian
do as i say, not as i sue

the winterings of life now nearer
with less introspection than e’er before
& naught but tongues of sycophants
to baste the gilding of your pants

the end of life now upon you
do your riches gleam paler than e’er before
could you have been less of a bastard
& mayhap wept a little more

empathy is plebeian
do as i say, not as i rue

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025

the blunder fable

i wanna eat too!
said the blob to the boy
but the boy wouldn’t share

the blob nursed a grudge
started to muster gall
waited for the right moment…

but the boy went away
never to be seen again
what was a full blob to do

unable to hold it
the blob swelled up & burst
gall splashed everyone around

hunger for vengeance
always fails to satisfy
leaves you feeling hollow

but it’s also the boy
who should take some blame too
what a shit little meanie!

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

Tumblevision #25

Slava Ukraini.

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025

cold (boy in the grave)

what is boy to do when
the judge will not advocate
& silence is the crime

his death smacks heavenly sweet
honeyed thus for peace of mind
as the rest of life goes to pot
boy raises a poisoned chalice &
pleads for more hungarian wine

the bad man lashed & beat on him
enriched while boy had less to eat
a legal ward with no standing
but life, they say, can find a way
(tho’ god’s acre be down the street)

what is boy to do when
the judge does prevaricate
& silence is the crime

tho’ blood be often redder
bruises sting profoundly true
how could boy bear any more when
none would pluck this weight away
no reckoning hawk from the blue

his death shall taste bittersweet
at least it’s something left to eat
a boy full bellied on life now
sighs to emptied then lays he down
(for worms to feast in ‘neath the ground)

what is boy to do when
the judge chose to abdicate
& silence was the crime

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025