Category Archives: TATI’S POEMS

social contract

have you ever felt
that your life is mortgaged
from the very first cry?

they squeeze your persona dry
they gain interest from everything
starting with your imperfect reflection
and its teenaged acne
ending with a type of upholstery
on your second-rate coffin

and nothing really belongs to you
except a nightingale’s song
that reverberates outside your window
every single night

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2024

GUEST POST // Leap Over by Aboli Mane

We leap over mountains
as the rabbit leaps over the moon
years wane in the blink of an eye
the marbles clink and scatter

as the rabbit leaps over the moon
childhood leapfrogs over our back
the marbles clink and scatter
the playground becomes a stranger

childhood leapfrogs over our back
vanishing with many steps
the playground becomes a stranger
the mango tree ripens; waiting

vanishing with many steps
innocence giggles over hide and seek
the mango tree ripens; waiting
for familiar hands to pluck the fruit

innocence giggles over hide and seek
years wane in the blink of an eye
for familiar hands to pluck the fruit
we leap over mountains.

by ABOLI MANE
© All rights reserved 2024

hiraeth

her paintings are on display
in the gallery’s endmost room
where there are only dull bulbs
and long, timid shadows

away from the greedy eyes
away from the greasy hands
away from the eco idiots
armed with their cup-a-soups

her paintings are on display
in the endmost of memories
where there is only yearning
for the might-have-been past

where sweet melancholy slumbers
where there’s no desire for awakening
where a soft nightsong is
sung by cicada ensemble

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2024

cloudy with a chance of deicide

long may i outlast
all the world’s grey anointing
smog & entropy
let it all float away now
punch the god nose yonder sky

by 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