Tag Archives: Murder

Tumblevision #32

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

TATI’s AND TONY’s DEAD POET TOUR // Sadly, O, Sadly by Walter De La Mare

Sadly, O, sadly, the sweet bells of Baddeley
Played in their steeples when Robin was gone,
Killed by an arrow,
Shot by Cock Sparrow,
Out of a Maybush, fragrant and wan.

Grievedly, grievedly, tolled distant Shieveley,
When the Dwarfs laid poor Snow-white asleep on the hill,
Drowsed by an apple,
The Queen, sly and subtle,
Had cut with her knife on the blossomy sill.

by WALTER DE LA MARE (1873-1956)
Public Domain Poetry

once upon a rainbow

monsters don’t only live in the dark
they can inhabit the light as well
in crystal castles or silky meadows
or knee-deep in marshmallow rivers

no warning, all charge, the unicorn rises
threatening death with thunderous hooves
it seems the most innocent of creatures
can also run plum out of patience

beautiful and elegant, it gores you
your viscera entangled in its mane
horn arcs, glints like wine spilled in the sun
yes, this is no mere ruby’s sparkle

even gargoyles, devils, trolls and wolves
fear the unicorn’s territorial will
because not only can it disembowel
it will also shit rainbows over your corpse

so remember kids, monsters are real
they’re just not always what you would think
now close your eyes, listen to a lullaby
about crystal castles and silky meadows…

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

welcome to baanail

somewhere in the country of baanail
is a teddy on a spike, its plush guts laid out
they say you shouldn’t be afraid of your fears
but when you see this grisly sight you’ll burst into tears

somewhere in the country of baanail
lurks a nightmare cult of toy sacrificers
they rip off button noses and beaded eyes
and snip cotton throats to silence their cries

somewhere in the country of baanail
an unsettled tourist is regretting he came
he deletes all his photos and cancels his bookings
vows never to return for future lookings

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2021

THE ABCs OF A PECULIAR LIFE // Earwig & Excitability (Katzenjammer in E sharp minor)

It was early morning, but Frau Earwig felt quite on edge already. She was rolling her eyes, wringing her wings and snapping with her forceps every few seconds. This was beyond her endurance! She, an honoured artist, drama teacher and fourth generation member of the intelligentsia should never have had to bear with the likes of these insufferable dormitory neighbours!

These vagabonds had lost all sense of shame. They indulged in binge drinking sessions every day, and organised vulgar karaoke competitions. They even brought home heavily rouged hussies to join the festivities. Who would’ve thought that such outwardly respectable looking kittens would turn out, in fact, to be lowdown bastard scum?

Frau Earwig sighed and took some valerian drops with her brandy, but this didn’t seem to help. Firmly resolved to end this crap, Frau Earwig flung a boa over her shoulders and took up a reticule. She then wended her way over to her loutish neighbours’ place.

The door was open, and through the crack seeped dirty jokes mixed with roars of laughter. Frau Earwig stepped cautiously past the threshold and let out a squeak. “Hello? Anybody home?” Of course, this tentativeness didn’t pan out as well as she’d hoped. She swallowed nervously. Frau Earwig forced herself to inch along, step-by-step, until she finally reached a spacious—though fuggy—sitting room. The atmosphere made her choke with a sudden fit of coughing.

That was when they finally noticed her.

“Hey, floosie! Get your ass over here and drink with us!”

Frau Earwig’s offense was betrayed by a gasp. It escaped her mouth before she could think to stop it. What? Floosie?! Then she heard another rude voice say, “Leave it, Fyodor! Don’t you see? This ‘hoptoad in fichu’ is a major bigwig! She’ll never hit the bottle with the likes of us! We’re too… lowbrow.”

What?! Hoptoad in fichu?!

It’s hard to say what happened next. After the red mist had passed from her eyes, Frau Earwig shook her head and took in her immediate surroundings. She was holding a Victorian hat pin in her trembling cercus, and a pungent smell of blood pervaded the room…

Dead bodies. Punctured bodies of dead kittens everywhere.

It seemed her Family Psychologist may have been right after all. Frau Earwig really did need to work on her anger management issues. Of course, she could always call the clinic the next day and arrange a follow-up visit with Gal. But as for here and now…

Frau Earwig stepped over to the nearest body and kicked it lightly. Actually, the fur had hardly any holes in it. Nice. It could be the perfect new boa…

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2017