Category Archives: COLLABORATIONS

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

fire, water & trumpet spiders

rains fell three days & three nights
like vertical static on a screen
obscuring the grandeur of creation
in a two-bit nature documentary

& suddenly the sun jumped in
like popcorn prancing in a pan
then orange he rose from the dead
a cameo for more residuals

applause thundered two days & nights
spotlights lanced the morose sky
sweeping like kaiju porcupine quills
in arcs of foreboding adoration

& suddenly a bollocking trumpet
as he ascended & then returned
in armani white on a horse to fight
for the christian fascist tech bro cause

coins clinked for one day & that night
ledger filled with sleight of crypto handwriting
vengeful, he smote everything in sight
& stomped with feet burnished bronze

& suddenly there was famine for all
worth about thirty pieces or less
of dignity bought & sold & told
to shut up & worship the trumpian fold

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025

body rhymes

she kisses me for inspiration
but is it meant for me or her
does my nose provoke the muse
to gift more undying love sonnets

but sometimes a nose ain’t enough
you also need an actual brain
but one cannot mack on a brain
which poses quite the dilemma

should i chainsaw open my skull
to give her more direct access
but then i’d lose my brain on a stroll
and that ain’t no good for her or me

so now i wear a dustbin lid
hinged to open over my brain
with my nose still exposed beneath
the opportunities are endless!

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024