A Sunday series from RVA Magazine featuring writers from Richmond and Virginia
Writer’s Block is RVA Magazine’s new Sunday series highlighting contemporary writers working in Richmond and across the Commonwealth. Each week, we’ll feature original poems, short stories, or essays. Just real voices writing right now.
We’re starting the series with two poems by Ryan Kent, a Richmond-based writer and poet whose work hits like a quiet hammer. He’s the author of several collections, including Tomorrow Ruined Today, Some of Us Love You, and Dying Comes With Age, and his recent collaboration with Charlie Glenn, “Oh Yeah”, continues his sharp, unflinching voice.
If you would like to be featured, hit us up at hello@rvamag.com with the subject “Writer’s Block“.
Photo by Wei
1. Employee Exceeds Expectations
We dress accordingly
Our shoes are new
teeth are brushed
button-ups tucked down in
the front of the slacks
We wear a belt
Own a blue
a black
and a brown
blazer
Several ties
We smell good
are clean shaven
polite
punctual
and do well
during performance
evaluations
We listen to safe music
go to safe parties
use safe words
and have safe
predictable sex
We read about
current events
watch the markets
and are in comfortable
financial debt
Our alcohol is served
in a specific glass
and our meat isn’t blue
We park our eco-friendly
cars close to the curb
We recycle
donate and remember
birthdays
holidays
anniversaries
and to vote
The grass is cut
the dog is walked
fresh vegetables are
in the refrigerator
and the water
rent and electric
are paid on time
We go to bed early
thinking about
all the women
we used to know
and the lives
we wanted to live
and how they all went
to another bar
further down the block
The helicopters
sound late into the night
The overhead propellers
whopping the hot summer air
like it’s somebody’s rotten kid
The spotlights moving
through the magnolias
through the city streets
through the backyards
alleys and parking lots
like stiff snakes sent from
a loud and angry god
searching hard
for someone
out there
who is still
alive
2. The Damnedest Thing
We’d seen most
of our heroes
go down by then
and we’d nearly
forgotten
about him
but when he came
back to fight
after all the years gone
somehow it felt
like 1990
We didn’t feel
so old
Even our hair
seemed thicker
our stomachs
tighter
lungs less black
We had one more
left in us
if he did
but halfway through
the second round
we could tell
he did not
It won’t be bombs
or floods or earthquakes
or machine guns
that sends us
roving
mad
into the streets
n o
It will be the slow death
of the common man’s
common dreams
spoken at night
when everyone
else is asleep
The rich get richer
and the stupid get famous
making a mockery
of this and that
and me
and
you
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