Category Archives: POEMS

lungfish

eyes of sand awash in a trench of tears
all i could do was sink & sift & wait
with crosscurrents of ancient memories

deserts flooded without, grain by grain
pupils flooded within, shard by shard
a tessellation of guarded hope

& i saw the turtles all the way down
& i saw the elephants falling asleep
thoughts of the flat disced earth beneath
felt soothing to my feet

i was a vision of tombs & flower voids
of dormant dolls raptured from the womb
of shallows, sunken barrows & undertows

yet above so below, steps & high walls
strewed worlds of cavernous possibility
all this in dim view of my timorous reach

& i saw the turtles all the way down
& i saw the elephants drowse in the deep
thoughts of the flat disced earth beneath
felt soothing to my feet

i breached into this world from deathless waters
& will dissolve in the chasm with time when i’m done
but for now let me take at least one lungful, if not the horizon

the longest voyage begins with the first stroke
then on to scurvied teeth & the bruises of experience
let the steady plash of oars be the sound of our freedom

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2023

real poets can’t count

is this a haiku
or just another tanka
we’re phoning it in
but no one answers the call
and we’re still unselfaware

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2023

hope or die

a hopeful tanka
behold its hopeful glory
yup, it’s full of hope
ushering in a new year
with more hope than you can stand

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2023

TATI’s & TONY’s DEAD POET TOUR // Christmas. by Thomas Frederick Young

Old father Time, his cruel scythe
Has swung full oft around,
Since last the merry Christmas, bells
Rang out their cheerful sound.
With cruel vigor he has held
His great, impartial sway,
And many thousands mown to earth,
Who saw last Christmas day.

For some have left this world for aye,
Who dwelt with us last year;
Glad voices heard amongst us then,
We never more shall hear.
But still we’ll build our Christmas fires,
And sing our Christmas songs,
And for one day forget our griefs,
Our failures and our wrongs.

Then ring, ye joyful bells, ring out;
Ye crashing cymbals fall;
And for old Christmas, hale and stout,
Sound up, ye harps and all.
Let music’s loud and sweetest strain
Beat from our hearts each ill;
Let thoughts of those assuage our pain,
Who are around us still.

Oh, winsome maid, oh, hearty youth,
I urge you on to glee,
For, in your innocence and truth,
You all are dear to me.
Nor youth, nor age should cherish gloom,
And voices oft should sing,
So give the gladsome voices room,
And let the joy-bells ring.

by THOMAS FREDERICK YOUNG (1892-1940)
Public Domain Poetry

beyond song

destiny is not only the future
it’s the promise of elsewhere
a network beyond the face of time
are you ready to raise the visor
are you ready to smile at the eons
to kiss goodbye the bones of time
or maybe break the bones with a trumpet
destiny is the future’s music
strumming at the edges of time
sing like there’s a yestermorrow
buzz them all with a found falsetto
nail the meta to the ghost of time
destiny is not the only future
there’s also the promise of elsewhere

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2023