Second date: She’s afraid of roaches.

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2023
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 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
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