Tag Archives: Seasons

strawberry cry when you’re happy

the midnight sun returned
as i knew it would
white nights replaced black days
an endless pyjama party

the black dog retreated
my breath hung in the air
pawprints on the window pane
their grief frozen in my smile

day & night gave way to flight
the reach of my mind’s eye
a midday moon winked at me
a ghostly strawberry in the sky

& i often wonder why
tears can flow from a glad heart
like a sweet red nectar
from an overripe berry

the midnight sun returned
the black dog retreated
day & night gave way to flight
& i often wonder why

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025

bridelope

i lay on the grass & feel how
the flowers push up through my spine
threading me to the divine
the will of modor earth

the smell of honey & i hear how
bees whir above my navel
spreading nature’s table
the pollen will of modor earth

a summer of rain & i smell how
petrichor infuses soil & eaves
wedding with fall’s orange leaves
the solemn will of modor earth

the first snow & i see how
my bridal outfit turns to white
shedding trees stand so quiet
in the mollen will of modor earth

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

for sanity’s sake

here between the seasons
the drought & hoped for rains
how on earth we prevail is
a puzzle for analytical minds
we try one smile on at a time

one smile at a time
to keep that sultry darkness at bay
one smile at a time
but perhaps today is not that day
mayhap i wish to sluttily lay
in disarray like i belong
& die erelong

but life goes on
while i whore myself to ruination
& smile along with the twee
their cock-a-hoop clarity in
hopes that we might cohabitate
in peace between drought & rain

& life goes on
one smile at a time

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025

TATI’s & TONY’s DEAD POET TOUR // A Seed by William Allingham

See how a Seed, which Autumn flung down,
And through the Winter neglected lay,
Uncoils two little green leaves and two brown,
With tiny root taking hold on the clay
As, lifting and strengthening day by day,
It pushes red branches, sprouts new leaves,
And cell after cell the Power in it weaves
Out of the storehouse of soil and clime,
To fashion a Tree in due course of time;
Tree with rough bark and boughs’ expansion,
Where the Crow can build his mansion,
Or a Man, in some new May,
Lie under whispering leaves and say,
“Are the ills of one’s life so very bad
When a Green Tree makes me deliciously glad?”
As I do now. But where shall I be
When this little Seed is a tall green Tree?

by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM (1824-1889)
Public Domain Poetry

winter elegy

it’s winter but the wind is warm
like a giant’s hearth breathing
where is the forest’s ghost white shroud
where are the grand glaciers of old

when was the last time you heard the raven cry
when was the last time you saw the mirror smile
change is but a turning of tides

the lazy sky yawns and stretches
though swaddled in blankets of cloud
not even the rain shall fall
not even the earth shall swallow

when was the last time you heard the raven cry
when was the last time you saw the mirror smile
change is but a turning of tides

the trees slumber in dreams so fey
where the woodcutter loses his axe
dull all meaning with the seasons
dull the blade of understanding

when was the last time you heard the raven cry
when was the last time you saw the mirror smile
change is but a turning of tides

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024