Tag Archives: Childhood

cripple at beautiful gate

well, i went & trod the great south road
when you told me not to go
i meandered in the crayon fields
but that child died long ago
the colours weren’t anywhere to look
yeah, far as flies the crow
except the black that bled from these stumps
that carried me to & fro

well, life is such a disappointment
where did the years all go
i gambolled in the hambone hills
but lust is death don’t you know
fantasy splayed by heat & look
yeah, pecked on by the crow
i eat the sickly gangrene stumps
that carried me to & fro

well, no matter where i lay my head
i’m always fear on the go
i’ll never be too innocent, yeah
gehenna’s bloody flow
she’s so damn hot, she makes me look
yeah, spit on by the crow
burn bright you cursed charcoal stumps
that carried me to & fro

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2008

cold (comfort for the oligarch)

you were a child once
played hide & seek with the truth
smothered your world with a smile
silenced hearthlands with all guile

you held more than the rest of them
more than lifetimes could ever feed
cultivated deafness to their pleas
while touching the lichen on trees

empathy is plebeian
do as i say, not as i do

you held dominion o’er anthills
had them burned ‘neath your lens of rage
watched them scatter into entropy
as you & the bison trammelled lea

you felt so superior
& equally felt misunderstood
self-made with all the scaffolding
afforded you in childhood’s spring

empathy is plebeian
do as i say, not as i sue

the winterings of life now nearer
with less introspection than e’er before
& naught but tongues of sycophants
to baste the gilding of your pants

the end of life now upon you
do your riches gleam paler than e’er before
could you have been less of a bastard
& mayhap wept a little more

empathy is plebeian
do as i say, not as i rue

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025

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

forever ambered

we set out to find a secret stone on the pavement
and began to whirl like that girl in the devil’s dark pearl
do you remember
we laid upwind the pheromones of enslavement
then took a daring stance to dance the prance of scalded squirrels

we looked right at the april sun
tho’ we were told not to
we huffed and chuffed o’er happy air
dandelion swirls behind our eyes

we set out to find the hoary old chestnuts of burgeon
and began to pray like gay fey in jehovah’s dark play
do you remember
we rowed upstream with a warry shoal of kingly sturgeon
then in emerald grass laid brass to glass in arcane ritual

we looked nebby at the may moon
musing next on what to do
we fussed and cussed o’er happy air
dandelion swirls behind our eyes

the locket on my neck
as ambered as the gleam in your eyes
enshrining our faraway spring
you do remember

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2020

RIDDLE ME THIS // Six Word Story #80

We had a conversation, and like so many of our conversations it took an unexpected detour. And so we ended up travelling along a byroad of riddles we both knew from childhood. This then led us to devise some riddles of our own, with the added rule that they must be six words each—no more, no less. See if you, Dear Reader, can guess the answers!

PS: It was quite tricky to come up with these by the way!

1265542358_ornamentDry when wet, soaked when parched.

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2020