There Was a Bluff

Ron Riekki

where my brother and I
would walk to, sit there,
for hours, mostly silent,
the city underneath, so
quiet too, the clouds, too,
silent, and the wind would
only whisper, the woods
making soft sounds behind
us, everything so quiet,
as if the trees knew they
were going to be books
one day, and this was
a library, this forest,
a place where you
went to learn that
we all need to be
more quiet, that
the silence when
we read is the holy
silence of nature.


Ron Riekki has been awarded a 2014 Michigan Notable Book, 2015 The Best Small Fictions, 2016 Shenandoah Fiction Prize, 2016 IPPY Award, 2019 Red Rock Film Fest Award, 2019 Best of the Net finalist, 2020 Dracula Film Festival Vladutz Trophy, 2019 Très Court International Film Festival Audience Award and Grand Prix, 2020 Rhysling Anthology inclusion, and 2022 Pushcart Prize. Right now, Riekki’s listening to Lyle Lovett’s “She’s Already Made Up Her Mind.”

Shopping Cart
Scroll to Top