Do Not Play Poker With Death

 

—Poetry by Ryan Quinn Flanagan, 

Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada

—Photos Courtesy of Public Domain

GOLFING IN SPACE

The wealthy
show off their wealth
by golfing in space.

Buying up their own
ecosystem.

Terraformed for 18 holes.
Under a see-through dome
with a great view of the cosmos.

Riding golf carts over moon rock
on the way back to the clubhouse
for a for drinks.

Caddies vetted like sand traps
on a difficult back nine.
So the space tourism lobby
can make a bundle.

 

 

 

 

 

HAPPY TRAILS

The forest near my place is quite dense.
Hardly as dense as the people near my place,
but it can be tough slogging if you venture
off the trails.

And they are happy trails, you can tell
by the way they open up.

Very social.

Even with a fresh pile of bear scat
on its head,
the optimism never
wavers.

With a tiny sapling in hand,
I walk in awe.

The sound of idling 4X4s
in the near distance.

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE RULES

Do
not
play
poker

with
Death,

bluffing
doesn’t
work

and
you
never
have
the

best
hand.

 

 

 

 

 

GORE VIDAL, ARTHUR MILLER, AND
PAUL NEWMAN ALL IN ONE CAR

On the way to a function
during the Democratic National Convention
in Chicago
1968

tear gassed from police volleys
in the street

so the Democratic donkeys could decide
which ass would lose
to Nixon.

 

 

 



 

SHE WASN’T THERE

She taught cooking at the university
and we visited her once,
parking in the back lot
trying to avoid the future firefighters
putting out imaginary fires
all around us,

but she wasn’t there,
so we made the two-hour drive west
back home

the setting sun
a constant nuisance

when you want to see clearly,
but are forced to slow down
and squint.

Now, she is a cashier at the Espanola FreshCo.
University cutbacks are a bitch.

A hit to both the pride and wallet.

Every space man
come tumbling back down
to spicy peppercorn
earth.

 

 

 

GANG VIOLENCE (3)

You ever seen a weekly book club
cheese platter worked
over?

The gangs of suburbia
show no mercy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SADOMASOCHISM AS A FINE ART

Why must one be a lover
or a fighter?

I prefer to do both with equal vigour.

And truth be told,
are they really not the
same?

This loving and fighting between us
that has always gone on
and will continue

until we do
not.

 

 

 

 

RADIO SILENCE

drop the mic

drop the
bomb

either way

it is the
end of

transmission.

_________________

Today’s LittleNip:

VICTORY SLAB
—Ryan Quinn Flanagan
 
No one is going over the edge.
There isn't even a mountain.
 
Only this new way to arrive 
at things
which is just leaving 
with expectations.

_________________

—Medusa, with a welcome back to Canadian poet Ryan Quinn Flanagan! Ryan’s name is all over Facebook these days as he publishes poems here, there, and everywhere. Congratulations, Ryan! Check him out at ryanquinnflanagan.yolasite.com/.

Drop by Sac. Poetry Center tonight for cool water and cooler poetry, as Team Haag reads from its anthology at 25th & R Sts. in Sacramento. Click UPCOMING NORCAL EVENTS at the top of this column for details about this and other future readings in the NorCal area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For upcoming poetry events in
Northern California and otherwheres,
click on
UPCOMING NORCAL EVENTS
in the links at the top of this page.

Photos in this column can be enlarged by
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.

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