Pirate
Your father burnt you in ways
That make the nights long and wrecked
In a way that my tongue
Free of blasphemy and coarseness cannot soothe
Your father told lies with his hands
Now you walk without delicateness or trepidation
Look at you plundering the seas, sea plunderer!
Taking what you can, sea plunderer! Pirate! Read the rest of this entry »
Inspiration
found at the bottom of a can of beer
or in the midst of the final
exhale of pot smoke
a good book
a bad book
a song that makes sad people happy
scrubbing dishes for six dollars an hour
daydreams of places better than any on earth
a quiet villa where neighbors are neither
heard nor scene
the crash-boom of wannabe waves hitting the
Long Beach shore
a bright sun that does not want to go away,
even at 7 p.m.
charcoal scent wafting through office windows
the soft whizzing noise of a cat’s snore
take your pick.
they all work for me.
Ryan Ritchie is a poet and prose writer based out of Long Beach, California. He makes his living as a freelance journalist. He is also the assistant editor of the Burning Shore Review.
drive by lover
the soft gasp of your surrender is deafening
in the fast lane i steal your breath
because i need fuel to rev up my idle heart
my tongue aches to dance inside your womb Read the rest of this entry »