100 WORD SKITTLE // Writer’s Block

The pen is mightier than the sword, except when said sword is a pen in the shape of a tiny, novelty sword. Then it’s just two pens side by side, not causing much blood loss and mayhem, because… well, they’re pens, and pens don’t do that.

But here’s the thing. If you take a closer look, you can see that said pen is actually a sword in the shape of a regular sized pen. So, yes, then the first pen is mightier than the sword because it’s not a second pen in the shape of a tiny, novelty sword. It is actually a sword.

Yes, I’ve had a lot on my mind lately.

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2022

wordsworth’s revisitant

pruning and gnawing at the gyrus of my numbed mind
a shadow enters the room, and it sits behind
it grinds a mudded heel into sheer night’s tail
filling my head with a gluey fairy-tale

it takes away the caulking gun from my ear
claps on my shoulder, asks with barefaced jeer
“are you dreaming of being a writer, you silly boy?
headache, restless nights, burnout enjoy!”

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2017

Bottom sediment

Sometimes he loses the flow
and feels like an empty caul.
Sometimes his favorite show
is a tapestry on the wall.

His voice is an ant in resin
Dumbness. An unfertilized plot
becomes incoherent and thin
on the bottom of the dry ink pot.

by TETIANA ALEKSINA
© All rights reserved 2015