‘Le Jouet‘ is a 1976 French film directed by Francis Veber, and I thoroughly recommend you check it out. It’s about a boy who buys a man to be his new toy. I found it an engaging exploration of how basic respect for people should always be more important than money. That’s a message we surely need right now.
by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2026
every last piece of evidence
dissolved as i lay there in silence
the gold rush of my youth had gone
with nothing to show for in my pan
they steeled their bonds with stagecoach power
left me to rot in riverbed dreams
built their nations on monied towers
groundhog foundations all the way downstream
who cares that i’d had better angels
who cares that they were both now gone
who cares that i’d compromised my self
who cares that i’d vainly strove to fit in
& just like that, i saw men raptured
fond memories, their bullions in tow
they were headed for headier climes
as i died face down, the dead of noon
was fortune a living catastrophe
i was simply forced to decay through
a treasure refined for all but me
rippling away, spangles downstream
who cares that i’d needed dnipro
who cares that i’d gambled george town
who cares that the world could only take
who cares that i could now only break
every last bit of evidence
just like that, had raptured away
the gold rush of my youth was gone
my bones left behind to clot in dreams
the world had taken all it wanted
the little that i’d held in my hands
the fulgurate clumps long picked clean
by bream, the rest long washed downstream
who cares that i’d puddled down under
who cares that i’d puddled in ukraine
who cares that i’d struggled for it all
who cares that i’d done finally fall
by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025
did you know this song was written for you
for my halves both & what we heathen were
we didn’t need always hold us inside
for three to abide
each breath’s suppression of rising horror
foretold our last for to rot in our shells
still in these spaces we let love abide
while we could abide
& the treetops swayed throughout all our days
now their roots reach down into our decay
the nourishment of our fading in dirt
& the love inside
all dogmas & empty puffery spent
& the former lives we laid wreaths upon
enkindled to the last our chosen tongue
tra la la, tra la la
tra la la la la
tra la la
did you know this song was chiselled in clay
each note an impression of quelled dismay
a triptych of anthems named for the day
for three to abide
all we wanted was renewal here now
clear hearts to drum away the chill of now
for to see we three through to noonday stride
while we could abide
& the treetops swayed throughout all our days
now their roots reach down into our decay
the nourishment of our fading in dirt
& the love inside
all the blue grey craters of the moon say
there’s no man in the sky or dreams to weigh
just enkindled nullifidian tongues
tra la la, tra la la
tra la la la la
tra la la
& here in the earth we three will abide
tra la la, tra la la
tra la la la la
tra la la
treetops unearthing the love deep inside
tra la la, tra la la
tra la la la la
tra la la
tra la la, tra la la
tra la la la la
tra la la
tra la la, tra la la
tra la la la la
tra la la
by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025
nothing but regret
is this how we truly are
i think i feel us
enclasped in this tested life
have you forgotten to breathe
today was better
but we’re so very old now
grief soaken eyes now
has pain dimmed your sight
trauma lines your folded bones
the horizon’s dreams
banish away sun’s last light
can we forgotten aright
today was better
but you’re so very cold now
closed soaken eyes now
by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025
What is a kiss? Why this, as some approve:
The sure, sweet cement, glue, and lime of love.
by ROBERT HERRICK (1591-1674)
Public Domain Poetry
unbolt me 