Charles P. Ries

photo by Anna Hamady

CONTACT

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

Charles P. Ries
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

BIO

Charles P. Ries's narrative poems, short stories, interviews and poetry reviews have appeared in over 120 print and electronic publications. He has received three Pushcart Prize nominations for his writing and most recently read his poetry on National Public Radio's Theme and Variations, a program that is broadcast over 70 NPR affiliates. He is the author of The Fathers We Find, a novel based on memory. Ries is also the author of five books of poetry - the most recent entitled The Last Time which was released by The Moon Press in Tucson, Arizona. He is the poetry editor for Word Riot (www.wordriot.org) and on the board of the Woodland Pattern Bookstore in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Most recently he has been appointed to the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission. You may find additional samples of his work by going to:

literarti.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

2008

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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