Distance Learning

The goal is not to be lonely,
so much as alone:
alone in person and in property,
alone so you have time to be you
and not everyone else,
alone to write and create and
and not have to worry if the doilies ever
outnumber the snickerdoodles,
so you can play your music
and sit with your thoughts,
pulling away from everything
like some sorry re-entry parachute
on that long slow descent
back down to earth.

back to issue

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, Cultural Weekly, Setu, Red Fez, and The Oklahoma Review. He enjoys listening to the blues and cruising down the TransCanada in his big blacked out truck.