my life has value
more than your godish rainbows
& your dogma trees
we love who we are
if it’s all the same to you
this ain’t your babel
the stormfront at your table
don’t you know, is all on you
know the breath in me
blow a kinder rainbow on my cheek
show my life respect
by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024
now i see that i
add not a jot of value
shall i lay me down
let them press on with their days
fruitful afore & after
by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024
rough diamonds that they are
with facets not yet shining
still spilling clumsy sun puppies
for easily amused yuppies
who are we to assign value
where detritus has accrued
wrap ’em all up in newspaper
alongside kale sandwiches
staled by yesterday’s news
stained with tomorrow’s clues
who are you to assign value
where truth’s bones have accrued
in seven days they’ll be polished
by bacon grease & oily lies
fakely shining like no tomorrow
like sun pups dead to further sorrow
who am i to assign value
where death & taxes have accrued
by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024
when you’ve traced your secrets into the sand
with a spirit’s hand at the water’s edge
is when the tide washes in to wash it away
& now no one on earth will have ever known you
when your face can’t be a part of this world
at the ripple & quell of a wishing well
your reflection does question former times
where no one said you could be lovely
& you’re wondering why you had to obey
when you did not wish to hold a gun
& you’re wondering why she bothered to stay
when you could not put bread in her hand
those men lined up at the soup kitchen
were never allowed to be more than hunters
with dusty hearts & those lifeless eyes
when grace extends only so far as merit
don’t be so loyal to your suffering
they’ve laid claim to your life without consent
& indentured you to kill in the name of
when disgrace has felled you for the last time
when the muffled gunfire burns in your lungs
when you wake into your funeral wreath
beyond the subatomic algorithm
& you’re wondering why you had to obey
when you did not wish to hold a gun
& you’re wondering why she bothered to stay
when you could not put bread in her hand
those men lined up at the soup kitchen
were never allowed to be more than fodder
with dusty hearts & those lifeless eyes
you can love like no one owes you
you can give however you want
but no man can bend forever
the men lined up at the soup kitchen
were never allowed to be simply human
no man can bleed forever
by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024
i’ve wandered far from the shadow where i fell
‘tween the rotted roots of concrete monuments
& the ever glacial drift of meaning
they call me cottonmouth behind my back but
who among can boast of less complicity
or with forethought exercise restraint
& concede that less could be more
at least i’ll admit i am not here to teach you
so learn for yourselves of the self & its value
in this late stage cage of crumbling margins
they call me cottonmouth behind my back but
who among comprehend the half-life of aeons
or can find wisdom so thoroughly hidden
& concede the point without the question
i’ve wandered far from the shadow where i fell
‘tween the monetised myths & wholesale burnings
& the never-ending grift beyond meaning
by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2023
unbolt me 