Poetry by Andrew Rihn

         Alexander Rabb CC



​I Start with a Scratch

 
First memory, summer candles.
Children walk up to the windows and break you.
 
I will break the back of the earth, let
go of this body, deleted pastures.
 
I understand the importance of justice.
I start with a scratch.
 
We fasted, but the spirit didn’t move us.
They write: it's hard. He was wrong. And I wait for it now.




Song of the Rescue

We jumped without language enough
to describe the jump/
We ignited the difference, split
this poorly sewn city and ran/
We tightened around ourselves,
nervous contradictions with eyes like kindling/

We exploded into the winnowing distance,
so simple and intimidating/

Together we landed,
sunflower of my expression/

Together we desired faith,
the forever I’d never held /

We held each other as our yesterdays melted
like ice in the flood/
We held each other like skin holds a goosebump,
life already at our disposal.

​

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.