Three Poems By Andrew Rihn

Andrew Rihn is a writer of essays, poems, and scholarly articles. He is the author of several chapbooks, including America Plops and Fizzes (sunnyoutside press) and The Rust Belt MRI (Pudding House). Along with his wife, the writer Donora A. Rihn, he co-authored the chapbooks The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: An Election Cycle (Moria Books/ Locofo Chaps) and The Day of Small Things (Really Serious Literature). Together, they live in Portage Lakes, OH with their two rescue dogs.

morning song insurgent

we held

each other

like empty hands

we cradled

the open palms

of words

apocalypse blooming
like a fist 
filled 
with blood

Immolation

Distress

not fitting

inside my own

body.

Slippage

between face

and mask.

Confusion

between pain

and killer.

Burn the old leaves.

This is the way we build.

Today, The End of the World

Apocalypse: from the Greek,

to uncover, to reveal.

As you fly between this bad city

and the heat of my dry heart,

reveal the silence in our veins,

their brutal awakening.

According to my theory: I am here,  

almost apparition, a poem

with lines and phrases built

from anonymous statue,

threatening disdainful and

malicious prayer, threatening

to bring us to ruin.