Impressions From a Mixer

Talking liquidly
a ghost bumps my shoulder
and a bit of my heart spills onto my blouse
—damn, that’ll stain.

Where to wander in a room
full of women with no last names
and men with two first?
Who to talk to when every stranger
is a card away from being a friend?
What to do when you don’t know
how to naturally mix at a Kaizen event?

Ladies and gentlemen,
thank you, this evening,
for participating, tonight, in this
opportunity, post-workday, for
outwardly mobile social dialogue.

Sharply narrowed,
tautly curved,
crisply pressed,
rattlesnake printed,
diamond-studded
—what’s the point?