the bad seeds

when the snake & the sycophant sing
when you feel their bile in your brain
when their gravity well steals your future

their happy song
seeds your anxiety
with more anxiety

when babies become the enemies of god
when laying of hands makes more zombies
when downward dog summons demons

their pious song
seeds your anxiety
with more anxiety

when they lash the journey to your back
when the road outlasts the marathon
when you realise their song will end you

their fascist song
seeds your anxiety
with more anxiety

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

the fallout

when finally the winter’s regime
hugged with a gentle vise
once the hectic mainstream
got locked in a stasis of ice

a roar swelled from slander
antheming to sacred shit
both turned into frozen meander
adorned with a bilious split

prickly slush wrapped up tighter
rhetoric and gagged criticism
like a pearl torn from the peak of a mitre
the globe rolled down a glaring schism

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2022