being at that jock party
out in Innisfil
with some girls from
a different school
and wondering what the hell
I was doing there
watching rednecks pump the keg
and take turns jumping through
the fire pit
until one of them caught fire,
all in their football jerseys even though
there was no game
and the way they stared at me
wanting to beat me up,
but I came with the girls
who let it be known that we
were a joint package,
and the rest of them wouldn’t talk
to me, but I remember one jock
asking me if I knew what hillbilly
heroin was
and the stupid way I said I did
when I didn’t
which made them laugh,
and how my clothes smelled like fire
and stank up my room
for the next three weeks
even with the window
open.
Ryan Quinn Flanagan is a Canadian-born author residing in Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada with his wife and many mounds of snow. His work can be found both in print and online in such places as: Evergreen Review, The New York Quarterly, Word Riot, Literary Yard, Red Fez, and The Oklahoma Review.
