by Lane Chasek
Past Jokes Review contributor Ron Riekki published a chapbook through Grandma Moses Press back in May. The book, I Have Been Warned Not to Write About This, features poems about wildfires, climate change, ex-addict family members, working at Domino’s, as well as one about an army bunkmate who claims to have been abducted by aliens.
Each poem delivers a swift, visceral punch to the reader’s gut. Riekki has always had a gift for depicting the frailty of the human condition, and here he showcases human frailty alongside the frailty of planet Earth itself. Each stanza promises an ending, a calamity—something at the edge of our vision that threatens to undo us but never makes itself fully visible. The end is inevitable, but its distance is comforting.
Since this is a Grandma Moses Press chapbook, this book is not only a pleasure to read, but a novel addition to a home library. The press’s 3 ⅜” x 5” limited-run chapbooks can be hidden anywhere—day planners, billfolds, purses, instruction manuals, and even inside other chapbooks. It pays to be discreet, especially when it comes to poetry.
Check out Riekki’s poetry in Jokes Review:
Lane Chasek (@LChasek) is the author of the nonfiction book Hugo Ball and the Fate of the Universe, the poetry/prose collection A Cat is not a Dog, and two forthcoming chapbooks, Dad During Deer Season and this is why I can't have nice things. Lane's current pride and joy is an essay he published in Hobart about Lola Bunny and the latest Space Jam movie.
