Category Archives: POEMS

homer shrugged

so the strongman fashioned another straw man
tilted at fabrications of discourse and taboo
pain, meanwhile, yielded to another hurricane
a hierarchy that deigns to explain away my own

i’m forever to be grateful or else don’t you know
they stranded themselves on virtue without a mountain
pontificated o’er the ears and eyes they’d shat upon
that were fatally struck dumb by the gift of tongues

but i’ll sing it from the depths don’t you know
of all i think i know, of all i think i don’t
maybe i’ll live and die like this alone
but i’ll not die on my knees in order to appease

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2022

GUEST POST // lead balloon by LM

possession is 9/10ths of the law
so humanity has written

televangelists flaunting god
for pro/fit/

really gets to me
how
vapid &
empty
their cult
personality can be

I think you’ve already read this part

impossible to possess the intangible
you can only admire the sheen

I’m holding a lead balloon
knowing it’s gold
knowing it’s never going to float
this song on repeat
I can’t stop singing

hold this for me

by LM
© All rights reserved 2021

grow a spine

ollie your halo off the ground
‘fore they see it’s slipped from your crown
do it with your winged heels
do it before the night reveals

they consider you a sidekick
you can lose their trust in one click
so stash your tacky aureole
and let them think you’re an asshole

you never wanted to be an angel
but rather a devil lewd and baneful
no one cared what your soul blooms for
‘fore shoving you onto god’s waiting womb floor

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2021

dog in the manger

no one cares in this world of tyrants
of sycophants and bended knee
how deep goes the well inside of me
and if my bucket is full of holes

the finger of god daubed my soul o’er pain
and it’s making me want to dissolve again
into blest relief from his violent ways
away from nephilim and the sons of earth

i swear the day will come
when y’all will forget about me
for too long have i given life
the benefit of the doubt

the ox and horse cannot eat the hay
dead baby jesus bestrews the manger
a doggerel gospel for the hateful pious
and mongrels returning to their vomit

i swear the day will come
when y’all had better forget about me
for too long have i given life
the benefit of the doubt

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2022

hit the backbone (wanderlust)*

what’s hidden behind the shabby black cover?
stories about a villain or a long lost lover?
scuffs and scratches like a palm’s ley lines
threatening mysteries and ominous signs

what’s hidden within the worn ivory pages?
tales of baby killings or long lived sages?
rustles and whispers foretelling the past
flaxen foundations beneath moments vast

a forbidden fruit is often the sweetest one
and the most sinful deeds often much more fun
so, how does one not yield to the temptation
to circumvent the usual pedestrian damnation?

hold your breath like an anchor and jump off that cliff
all book learning and vice yearning has a beguiling whiff
it draws out the courage needed to forge ahead and discover
so you’ll find all that’s hidden behind the shabby black cover

* Dedicated to all the souls out there waiting to be unbolted or unscrewed. May your 2022 be free-spirited and full of cool adventures!

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2021