2 Poems by Rick Spuler |

Cocktail Parties and Spirits

I'm just an ordinary guy.
I've been to a cocktail parties with spirits.
I don't consider this strange
because the spirits were ordinary too.

You know what it's like at a cocktail party:
at first you don't know who to approach.
Should you ask about the weather?
How long have they been dead?

The spirits kept the conversation lively,
and I soon overcame my apprehensions,
offering a perspective from the living.
Talk about your show-stopper.

Still, I've been invited back.
I suspect they know something I don't know,
like who's considered an ordinary guy
who gets placed on the invitation list, and why.

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Nibbling

I found a word
lying on the kitchen floor.
At first I wasn't sure, since
words often resemble other things.

I got down on my knees
for a closer look, but knew
that looking would not be enough.
I'd have to put it in my mouth.

I pretended it was something else —
a pinto bean, a kernel of corn —
but it didn't help the apprehension
of eating a word off the floor.

Except for the word,
the floor was clean.
But now it's truly spotless,
and I can get on with my work.


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Spuler
’s writings have appeared in journals and magazines such as Ugly Cousion, BlazeVOX, and the Miranda Literary Magazine. Someday he would like to write a book, but at the time, it's the poetry that counts.