By Ron Riekki

I’m sure he’s never murdered anyone.

He has a book in his pocket and that’s a good sign.

The snow is falling on him, so he’s not a ghost.

He looks cold, so he’s human.

Maybe I’m the one to worry about,

staring at him through a window,

standing in my underwear,

a Detroit Lions lamp nearby,

which is the worst team in the history of organized sports.

And this guy as lonely as a chandelier in a mansion,

the boring white sky ceilings of the rich.


Ron Riekki’s books include U.P.: a novel, The Way North: Collected Upper Peninsula New Works (Michigan Notable Book, 2014), and Here: Women Writing on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. His play “Carol” was in The Best Ten-Minute Plays 2012, The First Real Halloween was best sci-fi/fantasy screenplay for the 2014 International Family Film Festival, and his story “The Family Jewel” was selected for The Best Small Fictions 2015.

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