rainy night hootenanny

ev’ry moon became a witness
to deeds enacted in darkness
ev’ry tree became a bare cross
o’er graves bloated with stolen breath

ev’ry victim rattled their bones
clawed through clod & stony pendence
ev’ry perpetrator did quake
at the purging wails of black lungs

tears & fears & feeling dread
moons & junes & severed heads
joni mitchell lightly treads
‘twixt chaos & justice fed

ev’ry wednesday became friday
ev’ry weekend one more party
ev’ry hangover a new drill
ev’ry riot a revelry

beers & cheers, tyranny shed
chooms & rooms with wine & bread
& joni mitchell lightly treads
‘twixt it all, her muse must be fed

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

novitiate

a girl sits above the river
her hair golden in the sun
eyes silver beneath the moon

coins scatter to the shallows
more wishes for rippling stars
& water striders in the gloom

her song flows with milk & honey
something about faraway lands
blest by radiant summers thrice

is myrtle the plant or her name
is she fertility’s virgin maid
or is she a mere whore for christ

who will know, let’s leave her alone
let her sit above the river
singing her inscrutable song

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

make your way

what happens there could happen here
clouds cover the sun at any time
gravity throw caution to the air
wind touch all the memorial chimes

losing all hope should be a crime
an offence to cry into one’s beer
a withered heart doesn’t cost a dime
either take your seat or pass the chair

step up now & shrug off your fear
you’re a human, not a ball of slime
walk on two legs & see how you fare
a perfectly plump man in his prime

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

i can’t get enough sox

i find it hard to imagine you knitting
without tangled fingers & rage quitting
your slim fingers were made to hold glasses of wine
your nails to clear daintily between the tines
your tongue to lick oyster juice, not frayed yarn edges
your toes to sun carefree over marble ledges
your hair to smell like a honeyed summer wind
your tummy to be desired, your skin on my skin
but when i find clumsy wool socks on my pillow
you’ve placed lovingly over cottoned billow
i’m melting with affection, all florid desire
so i slip them on, pull their li’l hems higher
we drink wine, eat oysters, make love on the beach
you rather like me in socks in july’s hot reach
don’t you

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

clusterfuck summit

tati says it’s time to replace
‘spanish shame’ with ‘american shame’
or, more accurately, ‘maga’—
‘moscow agent grifting america’

are you happy, fat elephants
rolling out the red carpet
for this political circus
this baked alaska of fascism

tony says it’s time to get real
the butchers of bucha want more
putin-khulyo & thin-skin trump
a shit lord stroll between the bodies

ahem, pechenegs & polovtsy
you say ukraine’s a fake country
lenin invented it, so—
‘we will kill & trade land, a peace deal’

ukraine’s not perfect, we won’t argue
but let us exist on our own
without your pallid botox cheeks
& edema legs, you fucking cowboys

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025