On Eero Järnefelt’s Under the Yoke, by Ron Riekki

Under the Yoke (Burning the Brushwood), by Eero Järnefelt (Finland) 1893

On Eero Järnefelt’s Under the Yoke (Burning the Brushwood) 
 
When I cough, I cough up eyes 
sometimes.  Beautiful eyes.  Eyes 
that you want to keep.  When I 
call the V.A. to let them know I’d 
like to have my exposures to 
the burn bins in my record, they 
tell me they don’t know who 
I should call.  They don’t know 
who the wind should call or 
the heat in my lungs or the hate 
in my head or the hurt in my 
theatrical heart.  I remember 
how the smoke came from 
1893, how generational trauma 
woke up in our late-hung 
spines, our lake dried, our 
cabin surrounded by fire. 
I had one relative, death by 
drowning.  Another burned 
alive.  Which would be worse? 
my cousin asks.  All the above. 
He’s been in a psych ward. 
You can see it in his eyes.

Ron Riekki

Ron Riekki’s books include My Ancestors are Reindeer Herders and I Am Melting in Extinction (Loyola University Maryland’s Apprentice House Press), Posttraumatic (Hoot ‘n’ Waddle), and U.P. (Ghost Road Press).  He has received a Pushcart Prize, a Shenandoah Fiction Award, a Best Small Fictions selection, and been in several other anthologies.  Right now, he's listening to Elbow's "One Day Like This."