Ron Riekki- Three Poems

Sometimes I Wish I Was Martin Luther

or Martin Luther King

or a king

or a perfect Lutheran

instead of all this struggling with faith I seem to do everyday

where I’m filled with

or

and

I wish I could tack up a 95 Theses

to my own life,

excommunicate myself

from myself

and leave me

with the comforts of the wildest of wildest blisses of grace

or even just

the soft peace of knowing.

The Craving of Friendship

It’s terrible, this wish

that the darkness

of loneliness

would leave me with-

in the hour,

that I could pour

God into all which

I interact,

my sadness cracked

along the width

of my soul,

leaving me with the whole-

ness in which

the sky

occupies.

If You’re Reading This, Please Pray for Me

Sometimes it’s like I have a ghost in my chest.

I want it to be Holy.

Sometimes my thoughts get cold as winter,

as if there is no infinity.

This poem is a begging bowl.  Each of your prayers

is the clink of a penny.



Bio: Ron Riekki's books include U.P.: a novel, The Way North (2014 Michigan Notable Book), and Here: Women Writing on Michigan's Upper Peninsula (Michigan State University Press, http://msupress.org/books/book/?id=50-1D0-3479#.VKZ4kmTF-PU), which features writing by authors Gloria Whelan, Sharon Dilworth, Echoe Deibert, Beverly Matherne, Judith Minty, and many incredible Upper Peninsula authors.