Ron Riekki

The Opposite of Dusk Visit the post for more.

“I thought the word sounded like a magic spell. It even begins with hex. A sort of abracadabra meets hydrocarbons.”

This piece by Ron Riekki resonates:

variantlit.com/the-opposite...

Ron Riekki shares his poem ‘When I worked,’ along with a few inspirations, his thoughts on creative awards, and how he manages to fit poetry into his life after work. Thanks Ron!

pinholepoetry.ca/an-interview...

SH*T The New Verse News presents politically progressive poetry on current events and topical issues.

In his @NewVerseNews #poem Ron Riekki recounts the “Sh*t” he has heard and witnessed in the streets of Chicago. newversenews.blogspot.com/2024/06/sht....

When I worked in the prison, it reminded me of the military, and - Solstice Literary Magazine when I worked in the military, it reminded me of the prison, and when I worked in the prison, I was surprised at how many inmates stabbed themselves.  I thought they would stab each other, but they we...

New poem from Ron Riekki, author of the 2022 poetry collection "Blood / Not Blood, then the Gates"

solsticelitmag.org/content/when...

List of prose contributors from Variant issue 20: The Spirit Fisher by Tom Lee Song of Reason by Jennifer McMahon Soft and Warm Against Me by Evan Morgan Williams A Legacy of Birds by Thom Hawkins Spine of Hard Bone by by e. säfverblad nelson The Opposite of Dusk by Ron Riekki Pogo by Suzanne C Martinez The Man in the Corner of My Eye by Nathaniel Mumau We Blazed by Amethyst Loscocco Zizzi by Hongwei Bao The Girl Most Likely To by Sarah Freligh Sail On, Valhallan by Travis Flatt Clutch by Stephanie Frazee T4.N1. by Beth Sherman The Ways We Orbit by Kyle Weik

One more spotlight on our issue 20 prose ✨️

variantlit.com/issue-twenty/

"I remember screaming into mirrors in both. I remember / screaming into graves. I remember how my sanity was / taken, eaten, bouqueted, the yelling of borders, all of / the thin abandonment."

From "When I worked in the prison, it reminded me of the military, and" by Ron Riekki in our Spring 2025 Issue.

Read here: solsticelitmag.org/content/when...

Photo of the writer Ron Riekki

“I dressed up as a ghost, but I didn’t feel like being a ghost, but my mother had made me a ghost costume and said I had to wear it...and it wasn’t even a white blanket. It was blue. A blue ghost? There’s no such thing.”
Ron Riekki
#FlashFiction
 
flashboulevard.wordpress.com/2023/09/30/r...

“I’m Lying in Bed Now” by Ron Riekki after having taken an aspirin and googling about my heart, how it could be acid reflux or a heart attack (big difference)

Happy #NationalPoetryMonth! Today's share is by Ron Riekki (author of 'Blood / Not Blood Then the Gates,' 'My Ancestors Are Reindeer Herders and I Am Melting In Extinction: Saami-American Non-Fiction, Fiction, and Poetry,' and more). www.rattle.com/im-lying-in-...

"I Can't Explain", a story by Ron Riekki | https://www.caveat-lector.org/3302/website/fiction/riekki.html @RiekkiRon via Caveat Lector

My father

tried harder the older he got. I never had children, so I write poems about lacking the past. Ron Riekki has been awarded a 2014 Michigan Notable Book, 2015 Best Small Fictions, 2016 Shenandoah Fiction Prize, 2016 IPPY Award, 2019 Red Rock Film Fest Award, 2019 Best of the Net finalist,…

TOXIC HYPERMADNESS The New Verse News presents politically progressive poetry on current events and topical issues.

In light of two recent stories of severe hazing in schools, Ron Riekki writes in his @newversenews.bsky.social #poem of “Toxic Hypermadness.” #poetsofbluesky #blueskypoets #writingcommunity #poetrycommunity newversenews.blogspot.com/2025/05/toxi...

"Rattlecast" title screen for episode No. 263, conducted Sun., Sept. 22, 2024 with Middle West Press poet Ron Riekki. Author photo on left. Book cover on right is titled "Blood / Not Blood ... Then the Gates." Cover depicts abstracted blood circulatory system, alongside gray fieldstone pavement pattern.

Thanks to @rattlepoetry.bsky.social's interview with Middle West Press poet Ron Riekki!

Lots of great insights about poetry and trauma and being silly!

View the full interview via YouTube here:
www.youtube.com/live/dH7bfrSmzWM?si=mizVRttsxXEgGICh&t=442

"Sweet Talk," a story about heroin by Ron Riekki

www.bruisermag.com/sweet-talk-b...

WE'RE FLOATING DOWN A RIVER AND IT'S 106 DEGREES IN MICHIGAN The New Verse News presents politically progressive poetry on current events and topical issues.

“We’re floating down a river and it’s 106 degrees in Michigan,” writes Ron Riekki in his @newversenews.bsky.social #poem. The talk is of war and peace, life and death. #poetsofbluesky #blueskypoets #writingcommunity #poetrycommunity newversenews.blogspot.com/2025/06/were...

Podcast: Inside the Eye: Q4 2024 Give us a listen on Patreon OR give a listen on Spotify! HAPPY NEW YEAR! Welcome to Mad Swirl’s FOURTH installment of “Inside the Eye!” In this quarter’s episode: Hosts John…

Checkout Mad Swirl‘s 4TH installment of “Inside the Eye”

In this episode:

We shared highlights from our Poetry Forum, Short Story library, Gallery and Open Mic, spanning Q4 of 2024.

We interviewed Contributing Poet/Writer Ron Riekki!

The whole mad swirl of podcasting begins NOW!

(links in post)

Sonnet 22:
To the Veterans Who Continue to Live Despite the Intrusions

Thank you, Ron Riekki

Text appears against a background of green cedar foliage: I took off my clothes for free. Mostly. I mean, I was paid. I was owned. I liked it. Ron Riekki Shakespeare’s sonnet 69 as fear of exposure to herpes

You can read Ron's modern take on a few of Shakespeare's sonnets at www.corporeallitmag.com/volume-xvi/ronriekki

"I mean that they would tie us to fences

and there were so many fences
because it was a military base
where they were practicing the art of borders"

—Ron Riekki

Superior Achievement in Long Nonfiction Bogutskaya, Anna - Feeding the Monster: Why Horror Has a Hold on Us (Faber & Faber) Brewster, Scott and Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew - The Routledge Introduction to the American Ghost Story (Routledge) Stephen King an Beeria gonquin Hiss of hopel Him Salem 10 Pops, Fils (University old of Dame PTe Hidden Depths of Honeycutt, Heidi - I Spit on Your Celluloid: The History of Women Directing Horror Movies (HeadPress) Hughes, Emily C. - Horror for Weenies: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You're Too Scared to Watch (Quirk Books) McOuat, Allyson - The Call Is Coming from Inside the House (ECW Press O'Sullivan Sachar, Cassandra, ed. - No More Haunted Dolls: Horror Fiction that Transcends the Tropes (Vernon Press) Riekki, Ron and Wetmore Kevin J., Jr., eds. — The Many Lives of the Purge: Essays on the Horror Franchise (McFarland & Company, Inc.) Shultz, Erica - The Sweetest Taboo: An Unapologetic Guide to Child Kills in Film (Self-Published)

your girl is ON THE STOKER AWARD LONGLIST oh my god oh my god oh my god I’m hyperventilating

The Opposite of Dusk Visit the post for more.

"There’s a sun out there somewhere but I can’t see it. For some reason, I want to find it, but it’s buried alive."

Read "The Opposite of Dusk"
by Ron Riekki ☀️

variantlit.com/the-opposite...

Cover of Ron Riekki's 2022 poetry collection "Blood / Not Blood ... Then the Gates" features a stylized red-blood circulatory system on the left vertical two-thirds of the cover, and a grey dry-mortared field stone wall on the right one-third.

Ron Riekki will be featured LIVE on Rattle magazine's "Rattlecast" Sun., Sept. 22, 2024 8 p.m. EDT / 5 p.m. PDT!

Info: www.rattle.com/rattlecast/
YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UC4x...

"Blood / Not Blood ... Then the Gates":
- In print: amzn.to/3fxE6oi
- On Amazon Kindle: amzn.to/3OhvPQU

Brand new here. If there are any writers out there (poetry, screenwriting, playwriting, fiction, nonfiction, journalism, TV writing, whatever), hope we can follow each other. Anyone, here's my very first post . . .