smoking kills

today our god smoked a lot
just look at those heavy clouds
then he took a massive piss
for nine hundred sixty hours

noah chopped huge planks of wood
did it with his chopping fist
slapped together a wee boat
before the waters could rise

the re’em poked its nose inside
but noah shooed it away
It was crowded & stuffy
re’ems were bigger than blue whales

upset, the re’em craned its neck
& pricked god’s arse with its horn
upset, god smote the re’em back
right up its almighty crack

then the firmament crackled
& the waters subsided
like gurgling down a drain hole
along with the re’em’s remains

noah’s wee boat went aground
atop a big arse mountain
creatures piled out & ran off
scattering every which way

noah then got himself drunk
pitched a tent, slept in the buff
put one son in a tizzy
the others covered his bits

happily ever after
multiply & fill the earth
venerate or freaking else
these our smoking god decreed

as a sign of his good grace
covenant with man & beast
a rainbow was set in clouds
then the gays came & stole it

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

fumes & booms

don’t light a cigarette
in a house of oily rags
if you do, be ready to
extinguish your reeky buns
‘cos methane doesn’t come
only from cross volcanoes
& farting has never been
an insured accident
so, eat way less baked beans
if you really want to live
or better, just stop smoking
go on a jet ski trip instead

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

stripes and buttons

your hot tears drop onto my knees
like the ash of a careless smoker
they burn tiny holes into my pants
i’m thinking, “it’s nice these pyjamas are old”
and hugging you close

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2023

meanwhile… rain

let’s not run away
next time they hunt us down
let’s stay there and look
at their bewildered faces

let’s sit on the dirty curb
have a smoke (though both of us don’t)
and watch as they’re chased away
by a freezing november rain

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2021

No Smoking!

“This dull etiquette…”
I sighed and stubbed my poem
like a cigarette.

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2014