Author Archives: Tony Single

brain cancer

i shall not be a burden
i shall not forget to pray
i shall be an inspiration
i shall die in the right way

for those that plead the blood
do nothing but think they’re helping
i metastasise in compliance
in deference to the eyes that will

i shall not be a burden
i shall not say god is cruel
i shall be a demonstration
i shall die in the right way

for those that invoke the name
do nothing but think they’re helping
i catastrophise in silence
in deference to the eyes that won’t

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2023

sometimes…

sometimes a lone leaf on a tree
has more poesy than a whole book
sometimes a lone page in a book
has more mosey than the hole in me

sometimes a lone me in a tree
has no more pith than a hole for a heart
sometimes a lone hole for a heart
has no more kith than cliff and scree

is this how it’s gotta be
an empath tipping from reality
into the inscrutable

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2023

GUEST POST // Small Provincial Station by Chris Nelson

We met when we were strangers
On platforms changing trains
Time would never be the same
No season spoke the dangers,
Our faces wore expressions
Of kindred spirit found
Our voices made no sound
No doubts and no transgressions,
We stood aside the crossroad
And looked along each way
Hoping for another day
To break the secret code,
We met when we were strangers
On platforms changing trains
But I could feel the hurt and reins
Beneath my feet the dangers,
We met when we were strangers
But I knew even then
That I was nothing more
Than a small
Provincial
Station.

by CHRIS NELSON
© All rights reserved 2023

dry run

it’s time for a showdown
bananas peeled and cocked
protein death at fifteen paces!

the plugs are in the sockets
the cables are pulled through
i’m ready to cross swords!

we salute with both fish drawn
with bearskin pants and hats
pomp and ceremonial slap!

and poor shakespeare is goggling
from a portrait on the wall
at this school play of ‘hamlet’

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2023

Tumblevision #22

Ethics & Progress

The cost of progress is always someone.

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2019