Category Archives: COLLABORATIONS

a life not lived

stale memories in the cupboard
forgotten dusty souvenirs
that shirt you used to wear to church
the viola case on which you’d perch
those magazines with bums & tits
that more wholesome mickey mouse pin
you found on the path two streets over
near to the white cliffs of dover
the tin with lollies stuck together
mint & lemon with orange peels
‘twould be best to not partake
of these out-of-date belly quakes
faded photos with shabby corners
also out-of-date, make the heart shake
the more years fly, the more’s at stake
for lives with dead dreams in their wake

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2019

the blunder fable

i wanna eat too!
said the blob to the boy
but the boy wouldn’t share

the blob nursed a grudge
started to muster gall
waited for the right moment…

but the boy went away
never to be seen again
what was a full blob to do

unable to hold it
the blob swelled up & burst
gall splashed everyone around

hunger for vengeance
always fails to satisfy
leaves you feeling hollow

but it’s also the boy
who should take some blame too
what a shit little meanie!

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

lucy in the sky with rhinestones

rough diamonds that they are
with facets not yet shining
still spilling clumsy sun puppies
for easily amused yuppies

who are we to assign value
where detritus has accrued

wrap ’em all up in newspaper
alongside kale sandwiches
staled by yesterday’s news
stained with tomorrow’s clues

who are you to assign value
where truth’s bones have accrued

in seven days they’ll be polished
by bacon grease & oily lies
fakely shining like no tomorrow
like sun pups dead to further sorrow

who am i to assign value
where death & taxes have accrued

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

employee of the month

the snail said sorry for not inviting you in
that it was better to talk outside
so you stacked your shoe atop the other shoe
on the stoop for ants, to go inside

gosh, such nice weather, no cloud in the sky
robins sang lustily in their trees
but you were annoyed, asked the snail why
you couldn’t go in out of the breeze

the snail winced, said they woke up real early
that their guest room was rather a mess
mould on the ceilings was making them surly
& so too the slime on their flower dress

shrugging, you decided to just do your job
handed the snail an eviction slip
who can reason with an inveterate slob
who pretends to have a tricky hip

gosh, such nice weather, no cloud in the sky
robins sang lustily under the sun
you sat on the shell, loosened your bow tie
dreamt of that bonus for a job well done

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

alcheringa

shadows throw people onto the pavement
to slip away between the cracks & furrows
to an ocean somewhere beneath the city
where sunken bones & dead dreams recriminate

with golden teeth the stonefishes greet them
such disarming smiles before they jab them
& the bubbles of hope swirl to the bottom
to be sucked clean under tectonic & sand

remember me tripping on cobblestone
remember it ripping through skin & bone
falling like alice to the antipodes

to go through that fine gravity filter
one must first relinquish personhood
& reach emersion at the far side of firma
find a meaningful death before one’s birth

in this world the shadows are disappearing
unanchored from the people we have lost
fading away, so happy, oblivious
to all suffering done, never to return

remember me tripping on cobblestone
remember it ripping through skin & bone
falling like alice to the antipodes

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024