life and death in khánh hòa

the cereal killer died as he’d lived
slaying bowls at a time with cold precision
of course, it wasn’t his decision
it was an early childhood trauma
(as is usual with these kinds of people)
he’d build mounds of corn flakes like a steeple
’til mother beat him for playing with his food
so he grew to hate milk and processed grain
carried all his life this exquisite pain
he thus learned to be an agronomist
well actually, he poisoned the earth
from corner to corner, along its girth
and he tied the cows’ tails in bundles
so they mooed and lost their milk
then life from that point went smooth as silk
until one fateful day in vietnam
he thought he saw a bowl floating in the cream storage vat
but it was his boss’s wife in an oriental rice hat
having a soak, if you please, to nourish her skin
not realising this, he moved in for the kill…
then her voice sounded, agonised and shrill
then the boss busted into the barn with a big gun
boom! boom! then blood flowed like red cordial through a sieve
that stupid cereal killer died as he’d lived

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2021

zigzag (shy away)

plap plap plap… sound check
ready or not, here i come!
the first summer rain

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2020

shibuya crossing

a storm sky frowning
green man flashing on the street
passersby hide heads
as he bares what they most dread
red traffic light’s long countdown

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2020

sunday, 11:59pm

planned: cleaning, laundry,
jogging, cooking and reading
done: tanked in dota

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2020

saturday, 1:16pm

…that last shot felt odd
i tap mitten’s empty tin
sip hair of the dog

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2020