he goes away with a drooped head
followed by the eyes of alley cats
without applause, without flowers
his key monologue remains unsaid
he goes away in a fading ray
stepping over scattered set and props
and wind frays his shadow on the wall
like the theater bill of a failed play
by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2018
Just jabbering. Beating a rhythm. Messing with common sense.
Murdering a language… grammatically semi-dense.
A holy fool…
Allowing unallowable. Well… omissible… fuck it!
Set punctuation marks! Correct my torn jeans and my sanskrit!
A holy fool…
Don’t listen to me, please! Don’t call my bluff! Don’t yield to my magic!
It’ll not be my blame if you hear something essential and tragic.
A holy fool…
God forbid! Something that you were always afraid to say.
Oops… me and my potty mouth… I put my foot in it… hey!
A holy fool…
Healthy people shrug shoulders… a set of words isn’t usable.
Are you sick? Do you think that my words are excusable?
A holy fool…
There are people… they hear perfectly… how a heart talks to a heart.
Well… Putting on my horn-rimmed glasses. Just wanna look more smart…
TONY: Well, I have no idea.
TATI: Well, why am I not surprised?
TONY: Jabbering. Holy fools. Glasses. What does it all mean?
TATI: The thing that you sometimes put on your nose is called ‘glasses’. ‘Jabbering’ is talking in a rapid, excited, and often incomprehensible way.
TONY: And ‘holy fools’?
TATI: ‘Holy fools’… Hmmm… Foolishness for Christ. Are you familiar with this term?
TONY: Of course I am. I used to engage in such foolishness. I just wasn’t sure if this is initially what you meant.
TATI: Yes, this is what I meant.
TONY: Okay, so is this poem ‘Horn-rimmed glasses’ a commentary on religion?
TATI: Of course no! I used ‘holy fools’ in a figurative sense.
TONY: So who are the ‘holy fools‘ in this poem?
TATI: People, who aren’t afraid to be themselves. Who aren’t afraid to express their feelings and thoughts openly. Who aren’t afraid to go against the mainstream.
TONY: Ah, I see! These are the people that are thought of as ‘holy fools’ by the rest of society, and all because they refuse to conform.
TATI: Yes, but it isn’t aggressive provocation. It’s not an open protest. They just can’t live any other way.
TONY: Which is what you mean by the line: ‘There are people… they hear perfectly… how a heart talks to a heart.’
TATI: Yes. Empathy. Compassion. Acceptance.
TONY: Wow. I’m reading this poem again and… well, it makes so much sense to me! Tati, this might be one of your best!
TATI: Really? But you said it has no sense.
TONY: I think I was just a little too dense to get it at first.
TATI: Maybe it was me who was too messy in expressing my thoughts?
TONY: Perhaps that’s the point. By being messy you were sidestepping all the rules of conventional poetry, and forging a path all your own. You were being a ‘holy fool’. So cool!
TATI: Do you praise me? Oh my!
TONY: Totes! I wanna be your acolyte!
TATI: Okey dokey. It’s easy. Take these glasses and tell me what you’re thinking. Try it now.
TONY: Erm…
TATI: Come on! I haven’t got all day!
TONY: I’m thinking!
TATI: Think out loud!
TONY: I’m thinking that these glasses make me look like Elton John, and appear smarter than I actually am!
TATI: Hmmm… Are you sure you put the glasses on correctly? Not upside down?
TONY: Well, isn’t upside down the correct way to wear them? It means I’m doing things differently then, which is entirely the point of your poem!
TATI: No… see, that’s the tricky part. Pride. Hubris. Have you felt sometimes that you’re better than other people?
TONY: Shamefully, yes. But only sometimes.
TATI: So, put the glasses on the right way. Don’t try to be better than the others.
TONY: Oh wow! Now I look like Bono! Is that a good or a bad thing?
TATI: Are you saying that Bono is merely Elton standing on his head?
TONY: I’m not sure what I’m meant to be saying.
TATI: See? You’re getting it!
TONY: Am I?
TATI: Don’t strain so hard, Tony. You do not need to take yourself seriously.
TONY: But…
TATI: Don’t blame me if you hear something essential and tragic. It’s your choice, not mine.
by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2018
hands slumbered like doves
on eave then soared up swiftly
alarmed by plaudits
by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2018
enamoured hearts are colorful balloons
filled with helium love
they lift people high in the air
make them float through the heavens
that’s why I feel rather skeptical
about the concept of Cupid
do you think he acts in the right way
when he shoots all the soaring hearts?
by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2018
people are puppetlike
dangling on rainy threads
lower their sullen faces
hide under hoods and umbrellas
for this very simple reason
a puppeteer behind clouds
zigazigs with people recklessly
staying unnoticed for centuries
by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2017
