clarity

shake it out & lay you down
lean into the hushly furrow
atween cotton wool eyes

the approbation of dreams
where you don’t need to be heard
where you don’t need to be owed
where forever can be like nothing

aslumber in their scaffolding
yet you don’t need their dispensation
to let it all fall away now
so no more maimly going clear
no more sideways tussle
& no more fuzzy words in your ear

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

wellness check

i fain would draw this blue fog
but have only the red ink of shame
it burns through my sullen veins

i fain would deface my skin
but it’s like a brittle parchment
it crumbles ‘neath needle’s acerb touch

i fain would drown them all in bile
but hide behind what they want of me
my head pulses like a tumour

i fain would discard my failed life
but angst has drained resolve from my bones
i wait, days full up with hospital pudding

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2023

willspring

the puddle you plapped on through
were once a well e’er tranquil deep
still i spared your feelings sheer
tho’ none allowed me tend my own

were we running out of time
to cultivate me with you
or are you glad i’m gone now
to bare horizons me bestrewed

the inner guts of my skull
once a hill of bones replete
a place you called golgotha
now one through iris shone with hope

i fear we have had our time
to cultivate the me from you
must confess i’m gladness gone
to horizons tilled rain bestrewed

sometimes things don’t work out
once thought it ne’er would for me
& sometimes you have to leave
before the seed can dare to bloom

know there can be no more time
feel the inner guts of my will
gone to build me a new home
to far horizons hum bestrewed

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

changing trumpjectory

you choke down morning news on the run
with your hash brown muffin & coffee for one
you poke your bus pass at a sleepy driver
& hope you’re more dressed than lady godiva

another gulp of news & lukewarm coffee
oh shit, in your hair, is that last night’s toffee
oh shit, road hump, was that your last fresh shirt
coffee all over, down the seat & your skirt

wet wipes can only smear the whole mess around
judging looks can only add more lines to your frown
close your eyes, take a breath, try to take it easy
no one said daily commutes ought to be breezy

you tell yourself that this is all for your dream
to become top dog of the capitalist cream
another road hump, your contact lens pops out
& now that you can’t find it you begin to doubt

is fact checking reality too much for trump
because later that day on the tv news dump
it’s “people eat cats!” & “ukrainians are dead!”
& all the other stupid shit that trump said

well, even if you’d thought it was your dream job
it’s clear you cannot work for that derelict yob
you’re pleased you skipped the office to wash your hair
instead of lending your voice to that circus fair

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

the reassembled life

so glad my world is crumbling
‘cos i really want to start again
i won’t try to hold the pieces
and rebuild the walls in vain

things can never be right again
but i can weave a flaxen path
i won’t pack my travelling bag
with either despair or wrath

i’ll thaw my hands o’er new hearth
’til i emanate a renewed hope
i won’t let them claw me into
their inhuman brutal death lope

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024