dum spiro spero

a grain doesn’t know where it falls
it trusts in the hand of the sower
but trust can be as blind as the bat
that beats it down even lower
into the ground

a grain doesn’t know where it falls
it trusts in the richness of the soil
but soil can spoil in the winter
where it becomes harder to toil
into nature’s crown

a grain doesn’t know where it falls
it can only sprout up in bare faith
but faith can be pared down further
by the taxman’s loathing of waste
in for a pound

a grain doesn’t know where it falls
can bloom ‘tween stones with its last gasp
but a last gasp is as transient
as a world that burns in the blast
of a nuked town

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025

nettle track

that is the place
where everything starts
fog in the trees
in the nettled heart

a tiny silhouette
a pouch on a stick
on demeter’s eve
on the move real quick

smoking pipe stuffed
with tobacco balm
a rite of refocus
or deleterious harm

fragile & daring
i follow my dream
between the wolf’s howl
& the night bird’s keen

that is the place
that i’ll journey to
for to make our peace
i’ll be waiting for you

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025

sublunary shedding

another deer in the land of plenty
resplendent in summer coat so red
antlers adorned with aconite wreath
languid eyes fash the colour of lead

how stark he peers up into the star forge
where the ancient mother rests her crown
her fatigued breasts lift slowly, heavy
salted milk into mountain gorge drips down

crows are laying into three rivers creep
lawless with the weight of expectation
mayhap they were sent to test moral strength
in misfortune’s midst & tall temptation

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025

flashdance

the lady of the lake
took off her bikini
the shellfish blushed
hid behind coconuts
her perky high beams
blinded everyone in sight
with their womanly virtues
& strontium-90-60-90

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025

the wagenblast line

here in the shadows of bowed backs
& exotic tattoos, the late shift reeks
of brokenness & desperation
still, they wear the inside out over skin
& will not be silenced

their fingers yellowed from cheap smokes
belch & burn, cracks on their phone screens
let slip the strain on their fractured hearts
yet they wear the inside out over skin
& will not be silenced

zombie drowse, lulled by a trans voice
to reach past the binary of lost & dreams
laws forbid them but cannot unmake them
they’ll still wear the inside out over skin
& will not be silenced

hiss & shut tight, do not lean on doors
the daily commute, sisyphean loop
can’t wait to get home again tonight
keep wearing the inside out over skin
& do not be silenced

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025