Overstaying One’s Welcome
Richard Pflum
I’ve
always wondered when I was going to get
the boot. Have always been a little uncomfortable
here, but liked it nevertheless. Hung around, made
a
pest of myself. Ate the food, accepted the gifts
like I was some kind of prized guest. But now
the host is getting a little antsy. He hints there’re
other places I might like to visit and how long
have I been here, anyway? All my friends have
left a long time ago. I miss them, yes, but there
is
no way now they can ever be retrieved.
As
with all things: the familiar, the sentimental,
must finally be shuffled-off lest we become too set
in
our ways. After all we were not invited here
to
be comfortable. There was some good purpose
I
suppose, but I’m not sure what it was. Meanwhile
a
black limousine awaits perpetually at the door
and a flight has been booked at the airport. I hate
to
think of the mess we all have to go through
at
the terminal before the plane takes off.
Richard Pflum has published two collections (A Dream of Salt and A Strange
Juxtaposition of Parts) and has recorded a CD (Strange Requests). His poems
have appeared in Conceit Magazine, Sparrow, Event, Kayak, The Reaper, The
Exquisite Corpse, Tears In The Fence, Arts Indiana Literary Supplement, Indiannual, The Flying Island, The Hopewell Review, Ploplop, The Indiana Experience and Bear Crossings. His most recent chapbooks are The Haunted Refrigerator and Other Poems (Pudding
House Publications, 2007) and Listening With
Others (The Muse Rules Press, 2007).