night in circadia

the city nestles into evening
the city curls & the city shrinks
it hides in its shell like a snail
folds in on itself like wilting kale
it fills with the headlights of glow worms
between the sleepy power line sway
the treacherous mesh of branch & leaves
& mortar & brick & wire weaves
the phantom moons & ghostly sounds
entangle in fountain & rusted pipe
the owl looks on from its lofty perch
as echoes through streets resume their search
see how the signs change their meaning
to string together new lullabies
& the wind sighs a song in the spaces
between the lost dreams of lost places

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

social contract

have you ever felt
that your life is mortgaged
from the very first cry?

they squeeze your persona dry
they gain interest from everything
starting with your imperfect reflection
and its teenaged acne
ending with a type of upholstery
on your second-rate coffin

and nothing really belongs to you
except a nightingale’s song
that reverberates outside your window
every single night

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2024

the meter’s ticking

it’s just another night
they go home by taxi
i go the other way
the driver looks at me
he asks where to stop
but i stay silent

it’s just another night
they go home by taxi
i go from myself
and now my only thought
that i’m short of money
for such a lifelong ride

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2021

TATI’s & TONY’s DEAD POET TOUR // Why Fades A Dream? by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Why fades a dream?
An iridescent ray
Flecked in between the tryst
Of night and day.
Why fades a dream?–
Of consciousness the shade
Wrought out by lack of light and made
Upon life’s stream.
Why fades a dream?

That thought may thrive,
So fades the fleshless dream;
Lest men should learn to trust
The things that seem.
So fades a dream,
That living thought may grow
And like a waxing star-beam glow
Upon life’s stream–
So fades a dream.

by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR (1872-1906)
Public Domain Poetry

RIDDLE ME THIS // Six Word Story #83

Dear Reader, we had fun watching you try to answer our last riddle! (Our congratulations to Crosslife Spaces for correctly guessing ‘sky’!) Now, can you guess the answer to this last one?

1265542358_ornamentHarvested by night, eaten by day.

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2020