soldat (a final kiss)

you squeeze the hand of fate
knuckles white in the skull of night
time to choose between fight or kite
will we ever feel ready today

the price of going away
won’t be as high as if you stayed
how on god’s weaned earth has it come to this

another plated community
can you smell the sulphur in the air
mind the inevitable siren blare
more bodies filling moats of fear

the price of going away
won’t be as high as if you stayed
but first i must tell what you mean to me

let’s never forget, woman of my dreams
as i trace your shoulders, broad & free
would you flex those biceps, strong for me
then crushing thighs & disarming sighs

the price of going away
won’t be as high as if you stayed
i’ll miss you but we can no longer believe

the eastern border has disgorged
war, the insatiable hurricane
it swirls & pukes our discarded aims
bulimic in its vile intentions

the price of going away
won’t be as high as if you stayed
& fate always seems to begin like this

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2026

stillbirth

when stars tore themselves from the sky
impregnated earth unto ruin
a city groaned in labour of blooms
orcs then stormed her depleted womb

& the bodies they left behind
of these there were far too many
yes, i remember bucha
but you still call it zachistka

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2026

clusterfuck summit

tati says it’s time to replace
‘spanish shame’ with ‘american shame’
or, more accurately, ‘maga’—
‘moscow agent grifting america’

are you happy, fat elephants
rolling out the red carpet
for this political circus
this baked alaska of fascism

tony says it’s time to get real
the butchers of bucha want more
putin-khulyo & thin-skin trump
a shit lord stroll between the bodies

ahem, pechenegs & polovtsy
you say ukraine’s a fake country
lenin invented it, so—
‘we will kill & trade land, a peace deal’

ukraine’s not perfect, we won’t argue
but let us exist on our own
without your pallid botox cheeks
& edema legs, you fucking cowboys

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025

nezlamnist

yellow grain waving no surrender
in the onslaught of another storm
we will bend again, again & again
but never level to the ground

why should we rest in pieces
we demand to live in peace
we are not asking
the bear must turn & leave

we are not afraid
you try to raze us down
still we dare to stand
it’s you who are afraid now

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025