Category Archives: TONY’S POEMS

i may never

you died in the month of may, didn’t you
when you slipped and fell from the dead god’s hand
you knew then that you’d only led yourself astray
that silence was not the only silence

and all you could think to say
how is my life not mine
never have i deserved to die
never was i requested to live

you’re the once and ever failure, aren’t you
you never could shine as bright as they
all crafted jewel and curated moments
superior vessels built for purpose

and all you could think to say
how are these tears divine
never have i deserved to die
never was i requested to live

you’re the shadow that shrank behind, so you
became harrowed when tracing your heart song
and moths stole along, they ate your pockets
and then all of your dreams trailed sore away

and all you could think to say
i am the last of my kind
never have i deserved to die
never was i requested to live

 

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2018

cult of crucifixation

in the beginning was the word
and the word was us
pressed between ungiving pages
and yet in touching we multiplied

so what was first
was word made flesh
or did flesh make the words

scope and more we had to withhold
to give him all praise
his narcissism walled us off
to ourselves, ne’er to fit in

and what of his thirst
for our blood made blest
we venerated the absurd

he showed us we were never worthy
he broke our hearts
this round hole passover pricker
no forgiving this time, the abuse must end

 

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2018

is this what you wanted (apologies to leonard)

i went walking in the midst of loud appeals
to the better drone of my nature
and promises forcefed to be made anew
in a yonder framed for the chosen few

who’d have known what the future would hold
been naïve enough to believe again
what once was a cradled, spotless bloom
now a weight of years fills the foom

trump still lives yet cohen’s dead
fascism’s risen, your god is bled
now peel back my skin and bruise me within, why don’t ya
trump still lives yet carrie’s dead
iceland’s too warm and the oceans are red
now peel back my skin and rub the salt in, hallelujah

the diamonds got all unearthed down here
the stars up there all got pretty scanty
was god just a man with a beard and a view
where did the dinosaurs all vanish to

yeah, something about this rain makes me heavy
i’ll weep from pustules ’til i grieve no more
my bottle cradled, one more nuclear bloom
now a weight of bones fills the foom

trump still lives yet marilyn’s dead
your food is porn, greed’s giving more head
now peel back my skin to the china within, why don’t ya
trump still lives yet bowie’s dead
the bees are all gone and the birds have fled
now peel back my skin and tilt the gin in, hallelujah

 

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2018

i lay all this while (gulliver’s undoing)

let me tell you what little i know
i am not the man i ought to be
nor half a man if not for you
i’m stranger in a strange land
than i have ever been before

what no one here dares concede
is all we do is use and be used
we’re not the masks that wear all we
to be needy isn’t merely to bleed
carmine prints where we strove to be

time’s run out for it all to still matter
i’m bludgeoned, cowed, rarely right
i’d sooner delight in being more wrong
questions are my faithful companions
answers swan in with blazing cannons

i have no power to enact my privilege
i have no tower to enthrone my will
but i have a flower sat in my hair here
a curious plesh o’er frangible crown

i’m here yet unaccounted for
wrecked in my own inscrutable way
trajectories frill my shuttered mind
perhaps there’re none that really know me
the first in a long line of ignorants

i have no wish to disengage
the shells have forced an unembellishing
they smite me down for the little i am
ricochet out from what could have been
i’m induced to reduce to no margin for error

let me knell what little i know
i am not the man i sought to be
nor half a man if not for you
i’m stranger in a strange land
than i have ever been before

i have no power to enact my privilege
i have no tower to enthrone my will
but i have a flower sat in my hair here
a curious plesh o’er frangible crown

 

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2017