Tag Archives: Possibilities

lungpipe shanty

that one with the punched lungs
has taught me to breathe freely
to expand in every moment
my view beyond the horizon
has taught me to get drunk on air
raise a toast to the blissful life
uncork & exhale my dreams
& inhale all possibilities

that one with the punched lungs
has taught me not to hie away
from each rum quaff of oxygen
each gulp, each gasp, could be the last
has taught me to square my shoulders
wear my sailor’s crown on high
walk the plank with a shambler’s jaunt
use my voice with ne’er a grumble

that one with the punched lungs
has taught me to sing shanties
to marinate beneath the stars
away from landlocked bores
has taught me to stand before storms
to know my place within them all
when even acid rain stings my lungs
when even the mast punches my lungs

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

willspring

the puddle you plapped on through
were once a well e’er tranquil deep
still i spared your feelings sheer
tho’ none allowed me tend my own

were we running out of time
to cultivate me with you
or are you glad i’m gone now
to bare horizons me bestrewed

the inner guts of my skull
once a hill of bones replete
a place you called golgotha
now one through iris shone with hope

i fear we have had our time
to cultivate the me from you
must confess i’m gladness gone
to horizons tilled rain bestrewed

sometimes things don’t work out
once thought it ne’er would for me
& sometimes you have to leave
before the seed can dare to bloom

know there can be no more time
feel the inner guts of my will
gone to build me a new home
to far horizons hum bestrewed

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

mariana

one day the currents will turn around
the waters will carry the ocean floor
the foam will meet the impossible sky
make rainclouds in the realm of angels

vociferous sirens will hymn to gods
rake their tails o’er thorny sea stars
and soldier crabs will one day return
in battalions from know-not-where

it’s all rolling away
into much stranger days
and the deeper trenches
of mariana

splendour sand kingdoms will rise and fall
leave wet traces of their past greatness
folded into eddies of possibility
many of which ne’er before conceived

whole universes to curl into shell
that i press so gentle to your tiny palm
a nautilus distillation of dreams
a whispering promise of endless scenes

it’s all rolling away
into much stranger days
and the deeper trenches
of mariana

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

lungfish

eyes of sand awash in a trench of tears
all i could do was sink & sift & wait
with crosscurrents of ancient memories

deserts flooded without, grain by grain
pupils flooded within, shard by shard
a tessellation of guarded hope

& i saw the turtles all the way down
& i saw the elephants falling asleep
thoughts of the flat disced earth beneath
felt soothing to my feet

i was a vision of tombs & flower voids
of dormant dolls raptured from the womb
of shallows, sunken barrows & undertows

yet above so below, steps & high walls
strewed worlds of cavernous possibility
all this in dim view of my timorous reach

& i saw the turtles all the way down
& i saw the elephants drowse in the deep
thoughts of the flat disced earth beneath
felt soothing to my feet

i breached into this world from deathless waters
& will dissolve in the chasm with time when i’m done
but for now let me take at least one lungful, if not the horizon

the longest voyage begins with the first stroke
then on to scurvied teeth & the bruises of experience
let the steady plash of oars be the sound of our freedom

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2023

GUEST POST // Greatest Song Ever Written by Tony Brown

suppose you stop snickering
and get shut of the need
to scorn those folks over there
fingering slipcovers
in the discount aisle
talking only to each other
when they speak of
perfection and how well
these would go with
the drapes in the front room

and suppose
you quit sneering at those
who proclaim their love
for the Beatles as you cannot
distinguish between
an emotional bond to their
soundtrack of a lifetime
and your own decidedly
up-to-the-minute
lasting-maybe-a-minute
enthusiasm for whatever minute
you find yourself in
(unless
of course
it hits you
RIGHT THERE
like a never-ending
cryogenic block
on your future)

and suppose
you get your head
out of whatever fragrant
arrogant nook
you keep it in
and see yourself
years from now
dressed fifteen years
too early for retro fashion
choosing from cheap mirrors
in a bargain aisle
while humming
yesterday’s
greatest song ever written

by TONY BROWN
© All rights reserved 2022