(fried chicken) wings

everyone has a right to be ordinary
not famous, not pretty and cool
just there, without a care in the world
moving from scene to ordinary scene

pet a cat, have an allergy to fur
sneeze and have a runny nose
take out the trash, pay last month’s bill
fart quietly to avoid accusing eyes

rewatch ‘doctor who’ the twentieth time
hide a holey sock ‘neath another blanket
play ‘monster hunter’ for ten hundred hours
then lay in the dark from a monster migraine

then rise up and go, step onto the roof
spread those wings and make that jump
and save the whole world, once or thrice
because it’s hep to ordinary people

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2023

GUEST POST // I Live in a House of Cats by Jen Payne

I live in a house of cats:

three before that were

one – Emily
after the poet
loved blue jays
a thing with feathers

and two – CJ
namesake Joy but
arrived with grief
that lifted with love

then 3 – Crystal
so full of life and love
she sparkled!

[ There were two drifters

Moose, who lived next door but preferred to garden here

and Little Black Kitty who learned to trust slowly but enough ]

Of course Lola,
Zen master
lost then found
found me

Now: Molly
Good Golly,
is Whippersnapper
a name for a cat?

by JEN PAYNE
© All rights reserved 2023

Tumblevision #6

Cthulhu's CatCthulhu’s cat.

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2022

GUEST POST // The cat who loved ABBA by Graeme Sandford

ABBA, the cat, who loved,
never knew about punctuation,
or the proper use of colons and commas;
but, she didn’t have to,
it wasn’t important in the scheme of things –
unlike tummy rubs
and wriggling strings.

by GRAEME SANDFORD
© All rights reserved 2021

SOAPBOX TNT // Twinkle Tush

TATI: Tony, are you ashamed of your anus?

TONY: Say what now?!

TATI: It’s this little thingy between your buttocks that you use fo—

TONY: Are we talking about buttholes or little thingies?! Those are entirely different body parts, you know!

TATI: Tony, I am aware of male anatomy. Could you please be serious for a moment?

TONY: Sorry.

TATI: So… are you ashamed of your anus or not?

TONY: Oh, so this is what you call being serious, huh? Well, anyway, I’m not ashamed of my anus. But I don’t go flashing it about in public either.

TATI: Well, that’s because you just don’t know about a certain something that can make your butthole flash, twinkle and shine bright like a diamond!

TONY: Why would I want my butthole to go off like fireworks at a Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade? That sounds pretty tacky.

TATI: Tony, you’re so old-fashioned. Now even cats wear it!

(Tati takes something small out of her pocket and tries to place it in Tony’s arse.)

TATI: Boom! Twinkle Tush!

(Tony, quite naturally, jumps away in surprise.)

TONY: Winkle what?!

TATI: You’re welcome! Now you can bathe in the warm rays of fame and hero worship!

TONY: More like in a river of shit! Yuck!

TATI: You’re so hard to please! Just look at this cat. It looks so happy! You can be happy too!


TONY:
I’m not a freakin’ cat!

TATI: Well, it’s not my problem if you don’t want to be shiny and famous.

TONY: Okay, real talk here. Don’t you think it’s a form of animal abuse to be plugging up kitty bungholes? I do!

TATI: It’s not a butt plug! Just an elegant ass pendant. Do you think that is more abusive than a leash or a flea collar?

TONY: Oh! I thought it was something they were inserting in them. My mistake…

TATI: So, does this mean you change your mind and that you would like to own this shiny thing after all?

TONY: That’s a hard NO. Even if it’s not strictly abusive, it’s still as tacky as hell! And do you mean to tell me that you applaud something like this?

TATI: Honestly, I think it’s way better than piercing or tattooing animals, for example. Or docking their ears and tails for the sake of weird breeding standards that people invented for want of something better to do.

TONY: Look, since you put it like that then I have to agree. But I do think that an animal needs to have its dignity too. Is the sparkly anus cover really for its benefit or for the owner’s vanity?

TATI: Funny, the manufacturer of the Twinkle Tush says it was made exactly for keeping cats’ dignity, because they are supposedly ashamed to exhibit their naughty bits to public view.

TONY: Well, that’s not been my experience. Every cat I’ve ever met couldn’t wait to show me its anus. I never knew whether they wanted me to take a sniff or just be offended. And anyway, do cats ever think of their ‘naughty’ bits as something to be ashamed of? Isn’t shame purely a human construct?

TATI: I actually agree with you. Maybe they’ve never owned a real cat?

TONY: Perhaps not. Anyway, I think we project far too many human traits onto our furry friends. They don’t want our tattoos. They don’t want to wear cute little clothes. They don’t want anal bling! They just want to lick their genitals then go about their day.

TATI: Amen to that! Hey, where is the twinkle tush thingy?

TONY: How would I know? You were the one holding it!

TATI: You took it, didn’t you? Don’t tell me you’re not fond of tiny shiny things, Tony! I’ve seen your perverted collection!

TONY: Those are MARBLES, Tati, not glittery sphincter covers. There’s a pretty big difference, you know!

TATI: Then where is it, smarty pants?

TONY: Oh, look! See that magpie up on the roof there?

TATI: Hey! You feathery thieving freak! Bring that back right now! I paid a whole six bucks for it!

TONY: Wow. Such a wise expenditure of precious pocket money there, Tati. Bravo.

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2021