5 poems by Ryan Brennan

At The Cemetery

Her headstone

whispered

with a voice

made of 

memory.

Dried Flowers

After hours spent

with our girls

in the sun

their shoulders,

cheeks, and

noses 

all now painted 

a summers

pink

I take the 

flower

that this day has 

bloomed

and fold it 

delicately

between the 

pages

where we wrote

it’s story

Well After Dusk

For Delia

Six bushels sit

stacked

Beneath an apple 

tree 

Empty now 

But for the stars 

Storms

She slides open the 

curtain 

of her dainty summer

dress

to the rain soaked 

windows

her body passes

through

like a storm 

of summer bloomed

lightning 

Ravine 

We should raise

our smiles in spite

of what we were

like droughted 

ravines growing

wildflowers 

in the absence of 

water. 

Bionote

Ryan Brennan lives in the Catskill Mountains with both a witch and a cat. He has recent or forthcoming work in Cider Press Review, Brazos River Review, Pif Magazine, Muddy River Poetry Review, The Mantle, One Sentence Poems, amongst others.