Charles P. Ries

photo by Anna Hamady

CONTACT

charlesries@wi.rr.com

Charles P. Ries
5821 West Trenton Place
Milwaukee, WI 53213
414-607-0183

Charles P. Ries
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

BIO

Charles P. Ries lives in Milwaukee , Wisconsin . His narrative poems, short stories, interviews and poetry reviews have appeared in over 200 print and electronic publications. He has received four Pushcart Prize nominations for his writing. He is the author of The Fathers We Fund, a novel based on memory and five books of poetry. Most recently he was awarded the Wisconsin Regional Writers Association “Jade Ring” Award for humorous poetry. He is the poetry editor for Word Riot wordriot.org He is on the board of the Woodland Pattern Bookstore woodlandpattern.org and a member of the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission. But most of all he is a founding member of the Lake Shore Surf Club, the oldest fresh water surfing club on the Great Lakes visitSheboygan.com/dairyland/ You may find additional samples of his work by going to literati.net/Ries/

PUBLICATIONS

I'd Rather Be Mexican, www.TMPoetry.com (download free) 2005
The Last Time, Moon Printing and Publications 2005 - $3.00
Odd, Four-Step Publications, (second printing) 2004 - $6.00
The Fathers We Find: The Making of a Pleasant Humble Boy, (Prose) Bad Monk Press 2004 - $13.00
Monje Malo Speaks English, Four-Step Publications, (third printing) 2003 - $6.00
Bad Monk: Neither Here Nor There, Lockout Press/Four-Step Publications, 2001 - $6.00

BOOKINGS

2009

POEM

EXIT STRATEGY

Elaine took me to her German psychic,
as expected, she saw everything.

Our bad days and our glories.
The history of the times and species;
we have been together
for generations.

Realizing how long I have been with Elaine
made me feel tired - I didn't realize we'd been
working things out for over 400 years.
That's a long time to accommodate a sentient being,
I don't care what form I was in; me as:
    Her cat
    Her dog
    Her sister
    Her butler
    Her mother
    Her hair stylist
Gerta saw it all against her inner astral cineplex.
Guild at Barnes & Noble in Rockford, Illinois

I didn't know I was once a charming pistol packing pescalero
a handsome Mexican bandit who charmed Elaine
(in an earlier even more succulent form)
to indulge my desires.

Irresistible under a vast pecan tree.
My sombrero tossed casually to the side
The Milky Way strung over our heads.
I pick the flower she willingly offers me.
We melt into the warm night - two sentient beings
as happy as two sentient beings could ever be

She, the sheriff's daughter
virgin, sixteen, flawless
filled with secret flames

Me, hanging from a pecan tree
limp, twitching, forlorn
looking a bit bewildered

My sombrero tossed hurriedly to the side

Too many lives to hold in one small boat.
Yet on we sail, east to paradise
    fighting our way toward enlightenment,
           the only exit strategy
             for two weary souls.

Charles P. Ries

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