by cherylrussell | May 5, 2021 | Rio Review Poetry Spring 2021
by Héctor Aguayo My family and friends asked me, “Are you gay?” I asked, “Does it matter?” They said, “Of course not!” I said to them, “Yes, I am.” So, they changed the locks and said never to come back. My employer asked me, “Are you transgender?” I asked,...
by cherylrussell | May 5, 2021 | Rio Review Poetry Spring 2021
by Dylan Mahood How much longer until my tires splinter, their rubber entrails decorating the interstate’s parched shoulder like roadkill left to dry? Why do dead foxes always smile in their sleep? And deer always splay out like they’re testing beds...
by cherylrussell | May 5, 2021 | Rio Review Poetry Spring 2021
by Brendan Trevethan It’s like the heat of the summer. Ever-present. If you look closely at the horizon, you can see it. I refer to the “sting” of defeat, but watching one’s rank or placement tick down is more like shivering in the frigid north, sans...
by cherylrussell | May 5, 2021 | Rio Review Poetry Spring 2021
by Brent Porter I walk towards solitude, into solitude, become solitude. Alone with me, at last I wonder at how I am. What I am why I am. But I remain silent. I won’t answer. Rustling black leaves of the trees chime with a clear ring as they wave and embrace...
by cherylrussell | May 5, 2021 | Rio Review Poetry Spring 2021
by Dylan Mahood Had I met my great-grandfather I would remember more than his hands, the way his bony knuckles disassembled bar taps like a soldier breaking down his gun. Had I known my great-grandmother I would remember more than the stale wheat thins my...
