Rick Blum has been chronicling life’s vagaries through essays and poetry for more than 30 years. His early works were published in several, now defunct, national magazines, whose fate he takes no credit for. He was a regular opinion columnist for eleven years for the newsweekly The Mosquito, which, surprisingly, is still in print. More recently, his writings have appeared in The Literary Hatchet, The Satirist, and WINK magazine, among others. He is also a frequent contributor to the Humor Times, and has been published in numerous poetry anthologies. Mr. Blum is a three-time winner of the annual Carlisle Poetry Contest. His poem, Tomfoolery, received honorable mention in The Boston Globe Deflategate poetry challenge. Currently, he is holed up in his office in Massachusetts trying to pen the perfect bio, which he plans to share as soon as he stops laughing at the sheer futility of this effort.

Fair Trade

I had the word, which had escaped me for days, 
in my conscious mind at last. Feeling pleased, 
I clicked open the email I was dying to complete, 
positioned the cursor on the blank spot that had been
 patiently awaiting the perfect word’s arrival, and froze. 
My fingers screamed Let’s get on with it. My eyes fixated
on the eager screen ready to explode into action. 
But the word had flown the coop. Taken a powder. 
Hit the road. Pulled up stakes. Buggered off. 
And all I was left with was this poem. 
Not a bad trade, though, I suppose.

Waiting for the Right Question

First day of pre-school
Alina and I standing at the open door 
	waiting to be greeted 
Teacher spots us
	introduces herself 
Tell her our names 
Alina stares at her shoes
Teacher takes Alina by the hand
	shows her where to sit 
She follows willingly
	remains mum –  
	for the next two weeks
Finally, teacher hands Alina
	pencil and paper 
	asks if she can write her name 
Alina stares ahead 
	corners of mouth creeping up
	deadpans 
Print or script?