Category Archives: AWARDS & OTHER POSTS

WORDS LIVE ON // Serhii Zubatenko

Down through the ages, Russia has tried to kill the Ukrainian identity. They have done everything to present Ukraine as the rural outskirts of the ‘great, educated and advanced’ Russian empire. But the ones who proclaimed themselves enlighteners were merely butchers, murderers. They did everything they could to erase Ukrainian culture, traditions, and even the Ukrainian language itself.

And they are still doing this, even now, literally. During the last eleven years of war, Russia has killed hundreds of people of literature. Writers, poets, translators, editors, publishers and librarians. Ukrainian men and women. As you read these words, others are left to disappear in an unread draft forever.

There is a project called ‘Nedopysani‘ (‘Unfinished‘ in English). It’s a memorial site for people of literature who will never be able to put that final dot in their notebook, who will never be able to take into their hands their first published book. And so, this is our hard and painful mission. This is what we must do for them. It is inevitable.

Today, we present the next instalment of our translation series, ‘Words Live On’. We have done our best, and we hope that it will speak to our Dear Readers in a way that cold, clinical war statistics cannot.

Glory to Ukraine! To our heroes — glory!

Let
Life go to hell
Drink hard
I’ll see how a ray ripens
Don’t keep
Spring screws off the tails
Of all tomcats, hard
to recall

Floats
So bright and dull
Lives
Before isn’t too late, from the boat
Escapes
In a trice to the bottom for pearls
What will others say? Doesn’t matter

Forget
Keep waves, don’t let ’em slip
No humans
Who keep the keys from every passway
Our path
Is tangled with lianas. The very same.
Since morn the beasts already
Roar

Нехай
Життя іде під три чорти
Бухай
Я подивлюсь як зріє промінь
Не май
Весна відкручує хвости
Усім котам, важким
на спомин

Пливе
Така яскрава і нудна
Живе
Поки не пізно із човна
Втече
Мигцем за перлами на дно
Що скажуть інші? Все одно

Забудь
Тримайся хвилі, не впусти
Не людь
Знає ключі від всіх ходів
Наш путь
Уплівсь ліаною. Той самою.
А звірі зранку вже
Ревуть

Original poem by SERHII ZUBATENKO
Translation by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2018

THE CRUMBCAST II

The second episode of my new vodcast series is live… at long last. It’s called ‘The Crumbcast‘ and just one of these buggers takes an inordinately long time to put together. So, I’d love it if you could give it a watch, and maybe even leave a comment over on YouTube. You’ll learn a wee bit about what this particular cartoonist uses to make his scribbles and a couple of other things besides. Thrilling, no?

Yours trepidatiously,
Tony!

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2026

Tumblevision #46

My song for the day is Billy Bragg’s ‘You Woke Up My Neighbourhood‘. Check it out!

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2026

TATI’s & TONY’s DEAD POET TOUR // The Dog. by Oliver Herford

The Dog is black or white or brown
And sometimes spotted like a clown.
He loves to make a foolish noise
And Human Company enjoys.
The Human People pat his head
And teach him to pretend he’s dead,
And beg, and fetch and carry too;
Things that no well-bred Cat will do.
At Human jokes, however stale,
He jumps about and wags his tail,
And Human People clap their hands
And think he really understands.
They say “Good Dog” to him. To us
They say “Poor Puss,” and make no fuss.
Why Dogs are “good” and Cats are “poor”
I fail to understand, I’m sure.
To Someone very Good and Just,
Who has proved worthy of her trust,
A Cat will sometimes condescend—
The Dog is Everybody’s friend.

by OLIVER HERFORD (1863-1935)
Public Domain Poetry

Tumblevision #45

My webcomic Crumble Cult has been updated and relaunched. I’d love if you read the hell out of it and perhaps even told me what you think. It feels good to have it up and eyes on it again!

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2026