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.