Tag Archives: Writings

déjà vudu

all the skeleta dansing
dansing in their skin shells again
in a world burning to the ground
stubbing their durry minds in
that ash bowl of hell they once called eden

would that you’d been a part of this
or would you have, given such souls
them resolute that turned their backs
on curiosity & knowing

three cheers to the danse
the pleasing aroma of reason charring
to the snuff of nothing above the clouds

all the skeleta dansing
a descent into backwards heights
the danse of flurried minds tonight
we’ll exist should they allow it
but don’t hold your breath

their masks full with empty fool heads
all hail the bliss of dullening
to themselves be the glory
to mine own the lost othered story

three cheers to the danse
the macabre aroma of reason charring
good that you’d not been part of this

in a garden of dimming lights & lost delights
how do they not concede the signs
all pointing away from their vaunted heaven
now, one more time

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025

last october

i will always love you
mother, who carried me
it’s been a year since you’ve gone
i feel your smile lingering on
& i still don’t know why
you won’t let me lay down & cry

i miss you more now, it’s true
& still don’t know what i’m to do
guess i could pass your kindness on
instead of waiting for death erelong
for as long as i’ve left to live
i guess i’ll learn to let it be

‘don’t go near the frangipani tree’
this is what you would say to me
then i‘d try to be your good boy
won’t you let me cry now please

i never did learn to see you true
never did wonder if you felt rue
a lifetime of days before i was born
like petals fallen in the dawn
it feels like i hardly knew you
now i’m here too late… & waiting

& yet i will always love you
mother, who carried me
i miss you more each passing day
& now i find there’s less to say
with this vast space between us
i hope i was your good boy

‘don’t go near the frangipani tree’
this is what you would say to me
i don’t think your boy can smile any more
won’t somebody let me cry now please

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025

GUEST POST // shall i count the ways by Cassy Single

one life to live, one chance to give
two sides to every story & a chasm between
three words that mean everything: i see you
four pillars of living: compassion, kindness, loyalty, grace
five w’s to every situation: who, what, when, where, why
six degrees, the closest you’ll get to kevin bacon
seven wonders of the world that everyone should see
eight sneezes & you have an orgasm
nine ways to get to sunday
ten minutes, one sixth of a precious hour

by CASSY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025

TATI’s AND TONY’s DEAD POET TOUR // Since Then by Madison Julius Cawein

I found myself among the trees
What time the reapers ceased to reap;
And in the sunflower-blooms the bees
Huddled brown heads and went to sleep,
Rocked by the balsam-breathing breeze.
I saw the red fox leave his lair,
A shaggy shadow, on the knoll;
And tunneling his thoroughfare
Beneath the soil, I watched the mole
Stealth’s own self could not take more care.
I heard the death-moth tick and stir,
Slow-honeycombing through the bark;
I heard the cricket’s drowsy chirr,
And one lone beetle burr the dark
The sleeping woodland seemed to purr.
And then the moon rose: and one white
Low bough of blossoms grown almost
Where, ere you died, ’twas our delight
To meet, dear heart! I thought your ghost…
The wood is haunted since that night.

by MADISON JULIUS CAWEIN (1865-1914)
Public Domain Poetry

for sanity’s sake

here between the seasons
the drought & hoped for rains
how on earth we prevail is
a puzzle for analytical minds
we try one smile on at a time

one smile at a time
to keep that sultry darkness at bay
one smile at a time
but perhaps today is not that day
mayhap i wish to sluttily lay
in disarray like i belong
& die erelong

but life goes on
while i whore myself to ruination
& smile along with the twee
their cock-a-hoop clarity in
hopes that we might cohabitate
in peace between drought & rain

& life goes on
one smile at a time

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025