BCC Shines A Light on: Ron Riekki
Name of the piece published by BCC:
"GRIFFITH PARK, HAUNTED THEME PARK, DUSK, 2010"
When/where was it originally published:
Wilderness House Literary Journal 2010
What is the background of the piece? What led you to write it? What’s your process?
Oh, it was a bit of nonfiction, I suppose, where I saw a rapper and an actor who were working for a haunted theme park that I was part of and they looked just exhausted. I fictionalized it, so that it wasn't them, in case they didn't want to be in a poem. But it was strange, working with all these people in L.A. who wanted to make it so badly in Hollywood, but were just taking any gig that involved the arts, which I guess a haunted theme park sort of is. I remember working with a guy who was a featured zombie in a film and another actress who'd been interviewed by Oprah, so they had these moments of making it and then other moments where they're on a hill realizing how difficult it is to succeed and just trudging, with night coming on quickly, and one of the owners barking at us like we were props. Although, to be honest, some people were very nice there. And some weren't. And some were in the middle. A big mix. But I think the poem's about when it was one of the down moments where you're just tired and hearing the stories of when they were doing well with their acting or music and how they were hoping to strike gold again in the future. I know as a writer there are times when I feel so successful and other times where I feel like I'm on that hill, trudging, head down.
How did you feel when it was first published and how have your thoughts or feelings on the piece changed from then to now?
Oh, there's actually some controversy to this poem. It's a long story that involves Mark Cuban and Shark Tank and law and chaos that I'll save for some podcast I'm on in the future if the host stumbles across these questions you're asking me and wants to know more. But that little poem got a big reaction when it first came out. Then it faded. So I thought I'd bring it back out from the haunted fog now that it has settled back into being just a little quiet poem, like it was supposed to be in the first place.
Is there a specific message you'd like readers to take away from reading this piece?
Umm, no. I guess whatever they take from it. But maybe the nonfictioning of it changes the poem a bit. It's a reason I typically don't like explaining or talking about poems. I remember Bono being asked about a song and him saying that it'll ruin the song if he starts explaining it, so I can feel like that sometimes. I like the poem to stand on its own. I don't think it's like a Pulitzer Prize level poem or anything, but I do think it does a good job of capturing a unique moment. And I remember times where I'd look at the scare-actors on mini-break between when the next group of customers were coming through, and how they'd just be collapsed on the ground with fake axes in their heads and fake blood on their everything and realizing how odd of a world this life is.
Where can readers find more of your work? (Website/social media, etc)
@RiekkiRon on twitter, but just do an internet search and I have a half billion things published. Or maybe more like a quarter million. Just so I'm not exaggerating.
