Ron Riekki

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Máttar

(With Each Line's Final Word from a Poem by Mario Meléndez))

"Get up, you have to come see this"
—Mario Meléndez, as translated by Eloisa Amezcua,
from "Future Memories"

for Bamewawagezhikaquay

I learned at an early
age of my Saami ancestors. My father told me
this:

that the stars
are reindeer. And then this revelation
that every so often one gets away, this thought
of falling stars
as escape, as flight,
him saying that one day I'd run across the sky.

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 Giorgio Moroder's main theme from Midnight Express.