don’t light a cigarette
in a house of oily rags
if you do, be ready to
extinguish your reeky buns
‘cos methane doesn’t come
only from cross volcanoes
& farting has never been
an insured accident
so, eat way less baked beans
if you really want to live
or better, just stop smoking
go on a jet ski trip instead
by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024
every light restored
every line repaired
the names are piling up
none will be forgotten
from ukraine to minnesota
we the people rising up
be the leftover puzzle piece
fascists don’t know what to do with
i guarantee your safety
said the spider to the fly
but as more rockets fill the sky
the more each bullet tells the lie
no one has ever owed us heaven
but we’ve the right to take home back
be the leftover puzzle piece
fascists don’t know what to do with
voters dying in minnesota
another grim winter in ukraine
more genocide for real estate
to sate the bloodlust of billionaires
but every light will be restored
& every home will be defended
be the leftover puzzle piece
fascists don’t know what to do with
by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2026
those ravens, they tell me to get happy or else
but an empty smile is all they’ll get from me
they cannot possibly see
these hellish thorns inside of me
(scraping me raw)
my tired hollow bones
inside a mess of straw & meat
it’s so hard to be alive
so much easier to be dead
but neither thing seems to like me
look, i’m still here
scarecrow in a grain fed wind
tossed by amber waves
coasting in a lonely life
there’s no way out
those vultures, how can they understand
they say if i’m not happy then to get lost
don’t they realise i already am
by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2009
bewildered scarecrow
he must want to cry
in a faded golden field
beneath an auburn sun
wilted scarecrow
she must wonder why
in a hazy neon field
beneath a winter moon
looking for the answer
sweltering sky
mindfill of shadow
a mind full of shadow
ever mindful of shadow
bewildered scarecrow
she must want to sigh
in a jaded golden field
beneath a forlorn sun
jilted scarecrow
he must thunder why
in a crazy neon field
beneath a splinter moon
by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2009
we are born
empty phials for memories
accumulated & preserved
for all time
drop by drop
warm & cold, sweet & bitter
laughter in sorrow & love
fumblers of rhyme
leaving’s never easy
but look, there, the stars
hopeful like our dreams
shade by shade
a unicorn’s funerary wreath
a pallbearer’s rainbow raiment
all is sublime
& then we die
caulked in eternity boxes
blest in rot for posterity
our burial heim
leaving’s never easy
but look, there, the stars
hopeful like our dreams
by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025
unbolt me 