in the grand scheme of things
his tears meant nothing at all
that’s why he piled them up
& cast silver bullets
well, they weren’t really silver
but he at least could pretend
he just needed a pistol
so he lined up his crutches
(which weren’t really a firearm
at least he could pretend)
but then came the police
more trigger happy than he
in the grand scheme of things
his death meant nothing at all
by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024
Let’s be very clear. The man was a dangerous bigot that didn’t care whose lives his toxic rhetoric impacted. Did that make him deserving of being murdered? Of course not. But I’m also not obligated to give a tinker’s damn about him just because he’s dead now. What I’m more concerned with is the facile whitewashing of the real and measurable harm his weaponised words did to the most vulnerable groups in our society when he was alive. His murder solves nothing. It only adds fuel to the fire. He’s now a martyr for the bad faith bigots out there, emboldening them to do much worse, and all in the name of intolerance. That is not a good thing and nor was he.
by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025
woke was such a first-class word
when used to club the ones you hated
but when it meant human kindness
you told all babies to go stop crying
more bodies for your amendment
made for an acceptable trade
in your esteemed estimation
freedom to brutalise was king
‘prove me wrong’ was ever your mantra
when even you were provably wrong
had you known what this would reap
would you’ve chosen to cut out your tongue
when dogma is paved with the blood
the pain of the disenfranchised
bigotry looks a lot less like reason
& more like what it actually is
now at the end of your short life
riding vermillion neck spray
it’s a vip one-way ticket
up to your imagined heaven
but even with your mic in hand
dumb wee trophy, make no mistake
whatever your god may say
we the people still vomit you up
by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025
unbolt me 