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Michael's recent work appears in Alien Mouth, Building 45 Literary Journal, Five:2:One Magazine, & elsewhere. His poetry was included on Ampersand Literary's Summer 2016 "Best of the Season" list.

2 poems by Michael O'Ryan

I used to skate.

There’s a certain level of masochism
involved in the process of learning

how to kickflip. There’s a certain level
of sadism involved in the process of

someone else caring about you. 
There’s a polar similitude between

your bones slamming against 
January’s cold pavement and

dissipating into fertile subtropical
terra as a peach that’s fallen from the 

branches of a person who you care more
about than vice versa. I used to skate. 

 

 

 

 

On Love and Gas Station Parking Lots

 


If you’ve 
ever copped 
a dime bag
in the middle 
of a busy 
gas station 
parking lot, 
then gone
inside and 
microwaved a 
burrito only 
to burn 
your tongue 
on it, you 
either strongly 
believe that 
true love 
is something 
less palpable 
than a slyly 
dispersed sequence 
of chemicals, 
or you 
already know 
that it isn’t. 

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