Michael Riordan

"I write to discover what I know." -- Flannery O'Connor

United States

Michael Riordan is a writer of poetry, short stories, nonfiction, and musical plays for schools and community theater. He has taught in the U.S., Australia, Singapore, and China, where he was a professor of writing and film. He co-founded and directed 'Creative Action Now', a Singapore-based English Language school and consultancy.

Awarded First Prize for nonfiction in 2020 by Ageless Authors, he was also third-place winner in 2022 LIGHT Literary Journal story competition.

Michael is a member of The Association of Writers & Writing Programs, The Australian Society of Authors, and Breast Cancer Network of Australia.

He lives in Arlington, Texas.

contact email: [email protected]

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Portfolio
D.U.M.B.O. Press
03/28/2024
Magic Slippers

David's marriage is in trouble. Can it be saved? Is there magic in the old storybook house?

The Raven Review
10/30/2023
Strawberry Jam

"A sudden surge in the kitchen."-- a story about hidden things...

Consequence
04/08/2022
The Honeymoon

Embassies were warning foreigners to leave while ferries were still operating and roads were open--tanks were rolling...

Months To Years
09/07/2022
Last Words - Months To Years

I tell myself I'm fortunate. There they are. I still have all this. Everything that ever went wrong in my life is erased in an instant because there they are: my children and stepchildren, still growing up in front of me; all the grandchildren with their waxy faces and perfect eyes of wonder.

Abandoned Mine
08/18/2022
"Negative Space"

A poem about knowing what is there and what is not there...

Medicine and Meaning
03/31/2022
You Will Know This As Love | UAMS Medicine and Meaning

Sometimes things happen at just the right time. Serendipity? A blessing? It doesn't matter what we call it. When it happens, we don't care if it is a coincidence or a godsend. M. Scott Peck's book, The Road Less Traveled, came to me in the mid-1980s.

Front Range Review
07/01/2022
"The Book"

Old brothers review the facts of life: "THE BOOK was never mentioned by name, but we soon discovered that it was easy to read and that it unlocked countless secrets..."

Months To Years
03/07/2022
Layover at Heartbreak Hotel - Months To Years

Nobody really needs to know my whereabouts, I thought. 'Whereabouts'-such a vague and unhelpful term. Being a widower was not about a place. It was just about missing my wife, Stella, and her life, puffing out in throaty gasps in a strange, awful rhythm until the end.

The Smart Set
01/27/2022
My Scene's Mise-en-Scene

I'm staring out the window. In film studies, it's called a "look of outward regard." If I were a character in a movie, the audience will wonder what I'm looking at and what will happen next. I should be setting up for my next class, but I zoom in on the campus grounds below: a [...]

You&Me Magazine
01/04/2022
Bees Don't Get Prostate Cancer

When I found blood where it didn't belong, I did what every man does instinctively: I ignored it and hoped it would go away. Men don't panic. Men take the mature approach to any yucky problems down there. Maybe I would wake up to find that it was all a dream.

50Something National Seniors (Australia)
03/01/2016
"Amplified"

"Michael Riordan isn't sure whether his new hearing aids are a blessing or a curse."

Spirituality & Health
03/31/2021
"Always Bring Presence" by Michael Riordan

We met Daniel at the clinic. Like Daniel and a dozen other regulars, my wife was in the infusion room because she had cancer. At first, we purposely avoided others because we wanted no part of their lives or their troubles, we were struggling being present with our own.

table/FEAST Literary Magazine
02/01/2022
"Tides"

Tides retreat, flatten...

Pleaseseeme
11/20/2020
When Our Hearts Become the Sky-Michael Riordan - PLEASE SEE ME

I thought I was a poet. Teaching was to be temporary before I became a full-time writer. What the world needed from me most, I thought, was my poetry-a mix of jagged angst and lyrical melancholy. I sent off fragments of my soul, and I always included a self-addressed stamped return envelope.

Short Édition
05/27/2021
Sins and Secrets

He had earned the stamp of "loser" in his father-in-law's eyes. Worse, he was less a man to his wife Jean. When a possum tried to move in a few months after they purchased their little two-bedroom "starter home," the pest people found asbestos in the roof lining and walls.

Adelaide Magazine
02/09/2021
ALEXA, PLAY RAIN by Michael Riordan

I have trouble sleeping these days. So, I ask my Alexa device to play re-created sounds of falling rain, which she mixes with some low-toned thunder. Nightly melatonin stopped working, so this is giving "nature" a shot. Alexa's offering always does the trick for my slumbering wife who readily lets the purring drone cover her like a blanket.

Writers and Readers' Magazine (UK) https://thewritersandreadersmagazine.com
03/01/2021
"Gout Made the List"

Don't bother complaining about your gout during a global pandemic...

Wingless Dreamer
10/01/2020
"Umbrage"

...a poem about what might be tugging at our feet.