Tag Archives: Tetiana Aleksina

slippers vs the atom

a cockroach can survive a nuclear strike
but not survive being struck with a newspaper
and if i were the ghost of that cockroach
that had been taken out by a newspaper
i’d feel embarrassed!

i’d sit at the closed gates of cockroach heaven
waiting until their lunch break was over
trying to invent some heroic excuse
a war story for why i had appeared there
to not feel embarrassed!

in the garbage meadows of cockroach heaven
there are no newspapers, nor any slippers
just peace and quiet, and amazing grace
sung by veterans of the bug nuclear blitz
and none are embarrassed!

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2022

somnus (rem)

eyes taped to the sky
spin around a world of rue
the silence that hems

Text by TONY SINGLE
Image by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2022

somnus (sws)

gaslit & ghosted
then left to grey abandon
why were you not told

Text by TONY SINGLE
Image by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2022

somnus (nrem)

translucent in dreams
the tree of lungs inside you
breathes true outside you

Text by TONY SINGLE
Image by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2022

undeliverable

you arrived back home
letters ‘tween your teeth
the song on the radio
was ‘sunshine on leith’
you spat out the letters
and happily declared
that the war was over
we needn’t be scared

you ripped off the planks
opened the windows wide
let the sun shine in
on our ukrainian pride
the song on the radio
was cut by breaking news
of troop withdrawals
how we made russians lose

a sudden gust of wind
threw one letter to the floor
off the cuff i scooped it up
the return address i saw
i did not even know
that all joy could be stirred
sound and light could be cut
with only one terse word

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2022