Tag Archives: Life choices

firth time

the sky is so low today
i can reach it with my hand
rake the lightning from the clouds
make a crown of electric thorns

the fog is arcane today
i can absorb it with my skin
get gnostic by osmosis
wet in the haar of angel stranding

the sand is so sonant today
i can hear it with my feet
till with toes between the grains
fill to sprig from unheard prayers

and here i am, another day
walking free among the dunes
i’m the arrester and catalyst
time and tide wait for no god

Firth Time

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2022

TATI’s & TONY’s DEAD POET TOUR // Solitude. by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air;
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go;
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all;
There are none to decline your nectar’d wine,
But alone you must drink life’s gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a large and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.

by ELLA WHEELER WILCOX (1855-1919)
Public Domain Poetry

100 WORD SKITTLE // Suty’s Ascent (Follow-up to Keb’s Descent)

I learned to ride a pony a bit later on, as well as step up to the plate and be a household name. Had it been a bear it would have bitten me, but it was a mere pony.

I learned to do many things. Treachery, fratricide, mancipation… adult games were much more interesting, the rules were so easy to break. I became a headline player. I almost became a god.

Only one thing stayed beyond my control…

Do you remember where you were the day the red god fell? I do. Since then my eyes became blood red. Forevermore.

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2017

GUEST POST // Category F by Alexandra Omelchenko

This morning, I thought:
“I’ll get a tattoo, three symbols F32.”

On my neck or wrist,
anywhere above a pulse.
To remember that life beats
even under F32. It’s there,
even when you’d  rather
make it stop.

Even when smiles break crooked,
when laughter freezes into sarcasm,
when all the razor edges
cannot set free the lost and useless
soundless screams.

I’m done. I promise.
I’ve put the razors down.
I’ll find a tattoo parlor
for one last game of sharpness.

They ask why would I want
to carry on my skin a code and summary
of things best left on wards or in therapist’s chairs?
(Quiet! The first rule of the category F club
is not to mention the category F club.)
The strange part is, I’m not ashamed.

Do I even need a reason beyond “I want to”?
I still am F-ed up in the head, remember?
Besides, a reminder that I promised myself
to live, to give up the flight and the fight
may actually be of use.

It’s decided: I pick the wrist.
To get through moments like this:
breath in, breath out, make fists,
open palms, touch air. Look at your wrist,
breath in, breath out, go on.

by ALEXANDRA OMELCHENKO
© All rights reserved 2015

GUEST POST // Peak of Loneliness by Purpleanais

After years
of dedication
a hell of a lot
of stress
a smidgen of luck
a bucketful of pure selfishness
and mighty hard work –
money, success
and power
are now yours to hold
you’ve got what you’ve always wanted
pushed everyone away for
you’ve finally found the fucking match
and set the world on fire
it’s blazing
dazzling
flames
as high as mountains
blue-oranges, reds, yellow-gold
not seen since days of old
Alas, you’re watching that intense glow
completely and utterly alone

by PURPLEANAIS
© All rights reserved 2015