Ron Riekki- Three Poems

Cathedrals, France

There is a moment

when you walk

into the cathedrals

of northern France

that you realize

some buildings pray

with every brick,

that the walls

have all within them,

that the echoes

of your footsteps

are exhalations

of God’s breath.

To the Girl Who Left Me for Jesus

I hope

you find

orchards

wherever

it is

you climb.

Walking with Amélie by the River, Lille

You say the clouds

are the color of angels

today, that the obvious

storm minutes away

is meant to clean

all the spit on the side-

walks, that there is

nothing more beautiful

than the sound of rain

when it complains.

Bio: Ron Riekki's books include U.P.: a novel, The Way North (Wayne State University Press, chosen by the Library of Michigan as a 2014 Michigan Notable Book), and Here: Women Writing on Michigan's Upper Peninsula (Michigan State University Press, May 2015, http://msupress.org/books/book/?id=50-1D0-3479#.VKZ4kmTF-PU).