RYAN QUINN FLANAGAN

RYAN QUINN FLANAGAN

STRONG SILENT TYPE

The cashier at Zellers

was a real talker.

From the time we got there

she didn’t stop.

The line got longer

as she tried to be personable

with each customer.

When we got to the cash

we paid for Zantac

a case of water

and two scrapbooks

while the cashier told us she hated

scrapbooking

ever since her 85 year old grandmother

had a birthday

and she was tasked with constructing

a scrapbook for her.

My old lady engaged in light conversation

politely

as I stood silent

but smiled whenever she talked

at me.

Ah, the strong silent type,

she said

handing me the case

of water.

I couldn’t understand whether

I was being punished for being strong

or silent.

 

THIS IS HOW THE STONE AGE BEGINS

A few steps down the driveway I kick my foot about wildly.

It must look as though I am on fire when I am not.

There is a stone in my shoe that I cannot locate.

Digging into the underside of my foot with each step.

Most insufferable to a man on the take.

Yes, the money is all mine but I put it in unmarked envelopes

for myself to find.

Even greasing my palms with vegetable oil.

The corruption hearings more than ten centuries away.

And this is how the Stone Age begins.

Baby steps like sitting in a chair before it can be comfortable.

One single tiny stone.

Do you not realize whole office tower skylines will be constructed

of you one day, great statues to mystical gods

that fornicate with clouds?

We spend the day together, then I knock my shoe against

the side of the house.

Breaking up is the hardest part, even with all the trouble.

Now I walk just as anyone does.

I want my stone back.

BIKINIS OF DUNKIRK

The bikinis of Dunkirk

spill into the water

en masse.

Watching

and wading

less than twenty feet

from the

shore.

As lifeguards

come off duty

and enemy guns

sound off

like sand crabs

and beach towels

lay abandoned

like bodies

in the

sand.

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.