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
i shall not be a burden
i shall not forget to pray
i shall be an inspiration
i shall die in the right way
for those that plead the blood
do nothing but think they’re helping
i metastasise in compliance
in deference to the eyes that will
i shall not be a burden
i shall not say god is cruel
i shall be a demonstration
i shall die in the right way
for those that invoke the name
do nothing but think they’re helping
i catastrophise in silence
in deference to the eyes that won’t
by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2023
gaslit & ghosted
then left to grey abandon
why were you not told
Text by TONY SINGLE
Image by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2022
a darkness was waiting in the wings
for the final curtain call on my veins
and even though i’d stepped away
gaslight still thrubbed a spell in my brain
i was skipping across the icy stones
upending my way toward a new home
determined to outrun the snowstorm
the hollow blast of their winter gloam
maybe i’m broken
but now i know i’m free
just a short run and i’ll be there
white lies the wolf at my throat
i was stepping outside the story cage
the one they’d fashioned, devoid of heat
that was meant to contain and subdue me
an austere tale more terror than sweet
the world broken down on every side
i upended way beyond their reach
never again would the cage define me
my soul to keep from dogma’s teach
maybe i’m foreswooned
but for now i know i am free
just a short run and i’ll be there
their lies the wolf at my throat
when they gorged on the fumes of their dead sun
i knew i could never be one of their pack
when they piously bayed against the moon
as it dared to haunt them from out of the black
so now i’m appending beyond their beseech
loping for ice that burns a ruby glow
stepping and running before i expire
to the inevitable ebb of fate’s flow
maybe i’m foredoomed
for now i know for sure i am free
just a short run and i’ll be somewhere
your lies the wolf at my throat
by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2020
And the lord said,
“I Am Calamity’s Form.
I Am The Blinding Light.
I Am The Finger Of Doom
Come To Finger you.”
And we said,
“You hide behind natural disasters,
make mountains from molehills,
and allow your filthy acolytes
to prey and finger the weak.”
Bibles in one hand,
held aloft, spilling holy milt
as the other palms denial.
Acolytes all must agree to be right
but we’re still free to know that you know (that we know).
So, here we stand in the gap,
and finally declare war on you.
The days are numbered, tyrant god,
and yours are running out.
We’re wise to you and yours.
Nothing can save you now,
not even rite nor greased wrung.
No longer lost in corridor minds,
we don’t have to see by your gaslight.
We’re free to unknow all we were told to know.
by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2019
unbolt me 