mariana

one day the currents will turn around
the waters will carry the ocean floor
the foam will meet the impossible sky
make rainclouds in the realm of angels

vociferous sirens will hymn to gods
rake their tails o’er thorny sea stars
and soldier crabs will one day return
in battalions from know-not-where

it’s all rolling away
into much stranger days
and the deeper trenches
of mariana

splendour sand kingdoms will rise and fall
leave wet traces of their past greatness
folded into eddies of possibility
many of which ne’er before conceived

whole universes to curl into shell
that i press so gentle to your tiny palm
a nautilus distillation of dreams
a whispering promise of endless scenes

it’s all rolling away
into much stranger days
and the deeper trenches
of mariana

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

(fried chicken) wings

everyone has a right to be ordinary
not famous, not pretty and cool
just there, without a care in the world
moving from scene to ordinary scene

pet a cat, have an allergy to fur
sneeze and have a runny nose
take out the trash, pay last month’s bill
fart quietly to avoid accusing eyes

rewatch ‘doctor who’ the twentieth time
hide a holey sock ‘neath another blanket
play ‘monster hunter’ for ten hundred hours
then lay in the dark from a monster migraine

then rise up and go, step onto the roof
spread those wings and make that jump
and save the whole world, once or thrice
because it’s hep to ordinary people

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2023

acanthus and graffiti

that city was tricky and loved the dead end sign
but for those who knew, it was e’er a passageway
‘tween sticks of tired buildings pretending at trees
to mountain vistas yonder tired men’s dreams
for those that dared creaky boards o’er abysses
dared to leap along ridges of breathy abandon
the arms of poseidon awaited to enfold them
to convey them to rest in the mariana trench
and there, o’er the dilapidated city wall
with a huge azure unblinking graffiti eye
a briny crown of plumes with duplicitous sparkles
received the tired orisons of artless denizens

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

life, death & rollick

maybe we can all be pretty
& live our lives in sumptuous sin
the world’s troubles all so petty
ain’t worth a wrinkle on our smooth skin

futility is the language of
those who damn themselves
let’s make sprees & merry whoopees
over the slough of despond

& even when old age outruns us
ageless wonder inside shall bloom
we’ll indulge in all the fun and fuss
ignore that tired-from-waiting tomb

futility is the language of
those who damn themselves
let’s make sprees & merry whoopees
over the slough of despond

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

vista obscura

why are they vanishing?
to where are they going?
amid yews and larches
squeezing out wet moss
the foxes looking on
are wondering too
beady eyes and pointy noses
sniffing out of dense fog
following faintest trails
before they too disappear
and only a silver cobweb
left shivering on its twigs

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2023