Tag Archives: Existential musing

whyfor

between the hands of time
suicidal ideation
marking the hours until
death’s emancipation
there’s method to the rapture
a flashing blade is all you need

but wouldn’t you rather feel pain
than to be nothing at all
feel the anatomy of lungs
your swelling ribs in the rain
each lovesick gasp unweaned
present & phosphorescent

are love & afterlife a con
oblivion what you really seek
a stranger to this world
huffing on fumes of disbelief
a stranger to this world
can choose to flee it yet

but wouldn’t you rather be pain
than to feel nothing at all
the testimony of lungs
swelling bone cage in the rain
& may all your love & fears be known
all hopeful phosphorescence

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2026

soothsayer

time is a big black bird
that swallows you before the dawn
a well of days running dry
harrowing youth with utter scorn

you’re stuck in the bird’s craw
like jonah in the whale’s belly
you’re trapped down deep in a well
like hot water & gemelli

time to clip that bird’s wings
to sharpen up the silver knife
cut open its stinky throat
remove the guts of your half-life

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025

TATI’s & TONY’s DEAD POET TOUR // Hateful is the Dark-Blue Sky by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Hateful is the dark-blue sky,
Vaulted o’er the dark-blue sea.
Death is the end of life; ah, why
Should life all labor be?
Let us alone. Time driveth onward fast,
And in a little while our lips are dumb.
Let us alone. What is it that will last?
And things are taken from us, and become
Portions and parcels of the dreadful past.
Let us alone. What pleasure can we have
To war with evil? Is there any peace
In ever climbing up the climbing wave?
All things have rest, and ripen toward the grave
In silence, ripen, fall, and cease:
Give us long rest or death, dark death, or dreamful ease.

by ALFRED LORD TENNYSON (1809-1892)
Public Domain Poetry

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

TROTTERSVILLE #2

  • Schadenfreude
  • Шаденфройде

You can find TROTTERSVILLE #1 here > Ba Dum Tish!

by TONY SINGLE & TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2024