Poetry: Ryan Quinn Flanagan

Ryan Quinn Flanagan
A Mountain is Not a Betrayal 
 
A mountain is not a betrayal. 
 
Never as great 
or lasting. 
            
Nothing can be repaired, 
traversed or overcome. 
               
All the remains  
is the betrayal and never 
the mountain.
***


Those Silly Scandal Rags like Human Fly Paper that Seem to Stick to Everything
 
Those frivolous brown arms
of a Barcalounger.
 
Unranked college football on the television
because he has a favourite team
and this ball-cap he wears everywhere
like Kid Dynamite forever in the news.
 
Those silly scandal rags
like human fly paper that seem
to stick to everything.
 
The rich and famous
going through divorce by
the hour.
 
All those skin shots from some Caribbean beach,
I’d love to see the price of the helicopter
on the job order.
 
Or the price of the air space
for that matter.
 
All so someone can look bad
and they can sell and you can buy
which should remind you of simple
high school arithmetic.
 
Like you are trying to pass
a test again.
 
Get behind the winner of everything
and the loser of nothing.
 
A two car garage
like double vision.
***

 
Weekend Warriors 
 
A steady staggered line  
of them. 
            
Roaring down the highway 
in the opposite direction. 
               
"Weekend warriors," 
my wife always says. 
 
Dressed in their leathers  
and out for a weekend ride. 
 
Many with sunglasses  
and not always for the sun.
***

 
Bajan Robbery
 
She called to report a robbery
in the hills overlooking Holetown
and the officer showed up
a day later.
 
Took an inventory of everything
that had been stolen,
then sat down at the kitchen table
and asked if there was anything
to eat.
 
As he slurped away on some soup,
she asked him if he thought
she would ever get her belongings back.
 
No!,
he laughed.
 
The soup was so good
he asked for seconds.
***


Cause Celebre
 
A small engine plane flies overheard.
The neighbourhood dogs thrown
into competing panic.
 
The first time I have looked skyward in months.
It seems much the same as it always does.
 
The snorting pit bull that tries to eat through the fence
is usually the winner,
but it is not outside at the moment.
 
Five dogs have joined the chorus now.
Not too exciting, I know,
but a true extravaganza in these parts,
I assure you.
 
Now the humans are outside
yelling at the dogs.
 
If only the pilot of the plane knew
what an uproar he has caused.
 
What a cause celeb!
The flags still all at half mast
in support of the men who haven’t
been able to get it up in years.
***

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