RYAN QUINN FLANAGAN
Duelling
Pushkin
When Pushkin was not
writing,
he apparently liked to
duel.
Whether challenged and
challenging others.
The combatants firing
duelling pistols at each other
from 15-20 paces away.
Pushkin was as proficient
a dueller
as he was a writer.
Amassing a record of 28-1.
It is however, that 1 that
matters most.
His wife was a giant
flirt,
which may explain much of
this duelling
and it was her flirtations
with a French officer
which lead to Pushkin
being fatally shot
and mother Russia losing
one
of her greats.
A man has to defend his
honour.
Or so the story goes.
Those pistols so ornate,
works of art really.
But I’ll take the books,
thanks!
Bettered by pistol, but
never the page.
7th Floor Picnic
My wife spreads a blue
blanket out over the bed.
She has used it as a
pillow on the plane
and now it is to be the
base of our 7th floor picnic.
To keep crumbs out of the
bed.
I open the window to the
street
as she slices into the
baguette with a plastic knife
and opens the various meat
and cheese packages.
Then we sit cross-legged
on the bed
and build our sandwiches.
We are hungry and eat two
each.
Chug a bunch of water
after a long flight.
I can’t believe we are
sitting in Paris
having a picnic on the
bed!
she says.
I smile and she hugs me.
We stand by the window
watching
the red light district
pick up
as it gets dark.
Then we climb into bed
and listen to the sounds
of the city.
So tired we don’t even
open our eyes
when we speak.
Hitting Puberty
It wasn’t abuse at all
because he was hitting
puberty.
It was natural.
Like swings in a park.
The oils from his face
rubbed through horny
awkward fingers.
A stolen nudie mag
under the bed
to get him through
the tough times.
Da Palma
Doesn’t like Car Chases
Everyone should have their
biases,
they add to your
character,
not the one you play, the
other one…
the one you are said to
have,
to have formed since you
were a young child
and largely dependent of
the biases of others,
hopefully your biases are
yours and not just the old ones
hanging on like a loose
tooth twisted sideways;
embrace you biases:
Da Palma doesn’t like car
chases, finds them boring,
was never a big car guy,
he’s a big Hitchcock guy
who could care less about
cars…
And when his father
started cheating on his mother,
he filmed the women coming
and going;
film was his means of
capturing his truth
in a way he could see it
and translate
his prejudices into
believable follies.
Happy Accident
He was on a bag of
mushrooms
when he piled into a
family of five
on their way home from a
high school
football game.
Killed everyone on impact,
he escaped with minor cuts
and bruises.
And when the cops dragged
him away,
he could not stop laughing.
At all the tarps across
the pavement
like Davie Crockett out of
coonskin caps
and the hilarious way the
arresting officer
kept saying the word
attorney.
RYAN QUINN FLANAGAN
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