I Wanted To Use My New Knife. By Ryan Quinn Flanagan

Had picked it up from the flea market I worked at,

had it in my holster waiting for napalm to drop

on silly musicals where the honky tonk piano 

stood in for the voice of reason

and it didn’t take long for the mineshaft to cave in,

for two kids a year back than me in highschool

to push this skinny little nothing into the tree

in our front yard

and I couldn’t care less about the kid picking 

needles out of his arms 

although that was the pretense for me 

to rush outside,

I wanted to use my new knife and I guess

I surprised the bunch of them,

even the kid in the tree fell back onto the sidewalk,

it was only after they left that I felt how close I was,

all that pent up anger set to be released;

that people could die by my hand,

that I held some power finally.

Ryan Quinn Flanagan is a Canadian-born author residing in Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada with his wife and many bears that rifle through his garbage.  His work can be found both in print and online in such places as: Evergreen Review, The New York Quarterly,The Rye Whiskey Review, Outlaw Poetry Network, Under The Bleachers, The Dope Fiend Daily and In Between Hangovers.