RYAN QUINN FLANAGAN

RYAN QUINN FLANAGAN

IT IS BRAVE TO STAND NEAR WINDOWS

It is brave to stand near windows.

There are melanomas to think about.

And snipers from neighbouring

rooftops.

And glass that is sharp when it breaks.

You could bleed all over your nice new floor.

You don’t want that.

And I hear the air is all polluted.

It brings a chill with it.

You could catch a cold.

And die just for breathing.

It is brave to stand near windows.

With glancing milk saucer eyes

to lap up the wasteful day.

 

HANDSOME RED RAILINGS

I am a stairwell

with two emergency exits

in case of fire

concrete

in my beliefs

with handsome red

railings to express

alarm

no wonder

everyone always

walks all over me,

always in a hurry

you can tell the ones

that are on a diet

because they don’t take

the elevator

sweating it out in the trenches

for a few weeks until

they cheat.

 

LASER POINTER HEAVEN

No chalkboard of mine

will falter for the public

school system

presidents 1 through 52

belong in a deck

of cards

you shuffle this time,

I’d hate to be accused of anything

other than crop circles

drink up

neither of us will see

the next century

I have done the math

carried the one over

and everything

I don’t know about you,

but I’m well on my way to dust

already

jailhouse snitches seem affable

to me

the way they want to talk

like the little old ladies that come

to my door for the church

pretending laser pointer heaven

will stop eluding dirty

litterbox cats

and the way you stand with your

hands on your hips

makes me think of suspension

bridges

the ones that people jump from

when they can’t make rent

a man should be able to make a living

or a baby, he can’t have both

that is straight from the

river’s mouth

Paul was the walrus

I am the river

row houses

are four of a kind

I got row houses,

how about you?

Just show me your cards.

It is not the same thing

as nudity.

RYAN QUINN FLANAGAN

RYAN QUINN FLANAGAN is a Canadian-born author residing in Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada with his wife and many bears that rifle through his garbage.  His work can be found both in print and online in such places as: Evergreen Review, The New York Quarterly, Our Poetry Archive, Setu, Literary Yard, and The Oklahoma Review.