Once upon a time, Vladimir Putin shot himself in the head and billions around the globe rejoiced. Steven Seagal, however, did not rejoice. He mourned the death of his boyfriend and never made another shitty martial arts movie ever again. And this too caused the billions around the globe to rejoice. The end.
P.S. Though one other person did cry… but who cares?
by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2023
a girl and a dog sing under my window
the minor falls, the major lifts
and all my disquietude drifts
off to one side and out the door
the sky full of stars and the moon so blue
moths take a fancy to my table lamp
my cheeks recovered from their former damp
and the thought in my head that boys don’t cry
i look at the pile of crumpled sheets
the last blank page in my shabby sketchbook
the promise of less is all it took
to end at the start and cry some more
so i draw the girl and her funny dog
the stars and the moon, moths and the lamp
and this seat of emotions will subtly shift
to slough off the shadows when morning comes
by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2023
Why were you born when the snow was falling?
You should have come to the cuckoo’s calling,
Or when grapes are green in the cluster,
Or, at least, when lithe swallows muster
For their far off flying
From summer dying.
Why did you die when the lambs were cropping?
You should have died at the apples’ dropping,
When the grasshopper comes to trouble,
And the wheat-fields are sodden stubble,
And all winds go sighing
For sweet things dying.
by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI (1830-1894)
Public Domain Poetry
no one wants to die
no one wants to say goodbye
no one wants to cry
void their headstone of the lie
that there is a by the by
by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2022
have you dared to declaim with your true face
have you seen how they inward flinch
have they made a monster of the hole in you
have you longed for truest validation
have their eyes doth pummelled your face to tears
have you hidden your tears under veil of rain
if only this was a happy song
if only we could fill our lungs again
if only for the air ‘tween the drops of rain
have you pulled truer weeds from the broken earth
have you doth counted and more so for praying
have you monstered after the four-leaf clover
have you truly known that you never belonged here
have you paid your respects to friend grief again
have you layed yourself down in the face of pain
if only this was a happy song
if only we could feel our lungs again
if only for the air ‘tween the drops of pain
by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2022
unbolt me 