Author Archives: Tony Single

mariana

one day the currents will turn around
the waters will carry the ocean floor
the foam will meet the impossible sky
make rainclouds in the realm of angels

vociferous sirens will hymn to gods
rake their tails o’er thorny sea stars
and soldier crabs will one day return
in battalions from know-not-where

it’s all rolling away
into much stranger days
and the deeper trenches
of mariana

splendour sand kingdoms will rise and fall
leave wet traces of their past greatness
folded into eddies of possibility
many of which ne’er before conceived

whole universes to curl into shell
that i press so gentle to your tiny palm
a nautilus distillation of dreams
a whispering promise of endless scenes

it’s all rolling away
into much stranger days
and the deeper trenches
of mariana

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

TATI’s & TONY’s DEAD POET TOUR // Eternity by William Blake

He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sun rise.

by WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827)
Public Domain Poetry

(fried chicken) wings

everyone has a right to be ordinary
not famous, not pretty and cool
just there, without a care in the world
moving from scene to ordinary scene

pet a cat, have an allergy to fur
sneeze and have a runny nose
take out the trash, pay last month’s bill
fart quietly to avoid accusing eyes

rewatch ‘doctor who’ the twentieth time
hide a holey sock ‘neath another blanket
play ‘monster hunter’ for ten hundred hours
then lay in the dark from a monster migraine

then rise up and go, step onto the roof
spread those wings and make that jump
and save the whole world, once or thrice
because it’s hep to ordinary people

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2023

ripples in the soup bowl

when you’ve traced your secrets into the sand
with a spirit’s hand at the water’s edge
is when the tide washes in to wash it away
& now no one on earth will have ever known you

when your face can’t be a part of this world
at the ripple & quell of a wishing well
your reflection does question former times
where no one said you could be lovely

& you’re wondering why you had to obey
when you did not wish to hold a gun
& you’re wondering why she bothered to stay
when you could not put bread in her hand

those men lined up at the soup kitchen
were never allowed to be more than hunters
with dusty hearts & those lifeless eyes

when grace extends only so far as merit
don’t be so loyal to your suffering
they’ve laid claim to your life without consent
& indentured you to kill in the name of

when disgrace has felled you for the last time
when the muffled gunfire burns in your lungs
when you wake into your funeral wreath
beyond the subatomic algorithm

& you’re wondering why you had to obey
when you did not wish to hold a gun
& you’re wondering why she bothered to stay
when you could not put bread in her hand

those men lined up at the soup kitchen
were never allowed to be more than fodder
with dusty hearts & those lifeless eyes

you can love like no one owes you
you can give however you want
but no man can bend forever
the men lined up at the soup kitchen
were never allowed to be simply human
no man can bleed forever

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

acanthus and graffiti

that city was tricky and loved the dead end sign
but for those who knew, it was e’er a passageway
‘tween sticks of tired buildings pretending at trees
to mountain vistas yonder tired men’s dreams
for those that dared creaky boards o’er abysses
dared to leap along ridges of breathy abandon
the arms of poseidon awaited to enfold them
to convey them to rest in the mariana trench
and there, o’er the dilapidated city wall
with a huge azure unblinking graffiti eye
a briny crown of plumes with duplicitous sparkles
received the tired orisons of artless denizens

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024