Tag Archives: Mankind

overcooked

there’s a flame in the heart of mankind
that time & tide long to extinguish
from the first fires of the cavemen
to the rockets of dim oligarchs

the torches along the tower walk
a monk’s passage towards the heavens
from the gloom of the middle ages
to supposedly more enlightened times

if we cannot adapt
then we are cooked
all the tines in our guts
how are we not forked

a torch is lit in olympia
an eternal flame recalls the war
nothing has changed through the course of time
just the way in which we’ve stored the launch codes

an appetite for self-destruction
burns within the desire to live
the heart of al dente common sense
3-star michelin vaut le voyage

if we will not adapt
then we are royally cooked
all of time in the guts
how are we not forked

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025

TATI’s & TONY’s DEAD POET TOUR // Ode To Man. by Thomas Frederick Young

A man is not what oft he seems,
On this terrestrial sphere,
No pow’r to wield, no honor’d place,
Oft curb his spirit here.

He knows not what within him lies,
Until his pow’rs be tried,
And when for them some use is found,
They spring from where they hide,

To startle and to puzzle him,
Who never knew their force,
Because his unfreed spirit kept
A low and shackl’d course.

Dishearten’d and despairing, he
Had often sigh’d alone,
Not thinking that in other ways
His spirit might have grown.

Not thinking that another course,
Which needed pluck and vim,
Might raise his drowning spirit high,
And teach it how to swim;

To battle with the rolling tide,
That hurries onward men,
And raise his head above the waves,
That come and go again.

by THOMAS FREDERICK YOUNG (1892-1940)
Public Domain Poetry

off the leash

a stray dog drowses beneath the park bench
a high class cat purrs so refined in french
a black sheep pretends to belong with the white flock
a cow chews tobacco, filling the farmers with shock

since democracy was proclaimed at the animal farm
humans have looked on with a degree of alarm
without fur or feather and walking on hind legs
they think animals are no more than ham and eggs

only the lazy underestimate these orwellian times
society has failed to turn from violence and war crimes
the animals have taken note of mankind’s wicked ways
flipper, paw and hoof follow in the footsteps of malaise

can humanity change its ways before it’s too late
will humanity face the wrath of the animal state
does humanity deserve this impending tide of hate
should humanity be spared this apocalyptic fate

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

thou canst cut but once

mankind is not kind
but a knife can amend this
then rue append this

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2019