by Ron Riekki
and I hope those thousand (or more)
sonnets will spring into love …
Whoever reads this, I wish
you a thousand sonnets in your chest
and I hope those thousand (or more)
sonnets will spring into love where
you wake up in night’s middle and,
in the dark, the moonlight beautiful
as the first robe you ever wore will
bathe that person lying next to you
with a light that will joyfill you so
deeply that all your happiness tears
won’t be able to be sipped back in-
to your eyes and instead you’ll cry
the tears of those so loved that they
know they’ll both be in Heaven for
eternity, before—and after—death.
I pray so hard that I can be kissed that I think God
will eventually give in, send someone to me
just to shut me up, that person emerging from
the fog of my life to grab my lips and smooch
them like the very first drops of hurricane rain
where you know the storm is going to erase
every postcard on the tourist stand that was
left behind, where the entire tourist stand will
be gone, and all that you’ll see afterwards is
the ocean in the background as large as God.
© Ron Riekki
Ron Riekki has been awarded a 2014 Michigan Notable Book, 2015 The Best Small Fictions, 2016 Shenandoah Fiction Prize, 2016 IPPY Award, 2019 Red Rock Film Fest Award, 2019 Best of the Net finalist, 2020 Dracula Film Festival Vladutz Trophy, 2019 Très Court International Film Festival Audience Award and Grand Prix, 2020 Rhysling Anthology inclusion, and 2022 Pushcart Prize. Right now, Riekki’s listening to Keren Ann’s La Disparition.
Find out more on Twitter @RiekkiRon.
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