Robert M. Simmons  

from Morning in Middleborough... (Poems 1991-2006)

Spencer the Spitter

       (or Great Expectorations)

Each morning

on his way to the convenience store

for a newspaper and a package of Marlboros

in his champagne colored Buick LeSabre,

Spencer would stop at the busy corner

where I happened to live,

roll down his car window

and let fly

a humongous wad of greenish-yellow phlegm

mixed with saliva,

regardless of who might be near

to view this gross bodily function.

On a given day

the audience might include

a cluster of  children

waiting for the school bus,

a housewife weeding her flower beds

or a retiree

taking his morning constitutional.

Over the years

at one time or another

most of the surrounding community

had been strategically positioned

at the critical moment

to observe this revolting conduct.

Having had enough of it,

I asked my neighbors,

one by one,

if they had witnessed Spencer's oral eruptions

so that I could finally share my disgust

at his vile habit

with someone else

and perhaps bring some social pressure

to bear on the miscreant.

Each person I spoke to

expressed surprise

and claimed to be unaware

of Spencer's wanton behavior.

I began to doubt my senses

until the next time it occurred

while a neighbor was walking his Shih Tzu

and had to execute

a rapid evasive maneuver

to avoid being hit

by a particularly large projectile.

I then realized

that people do not see

what they do not want to see,

and Spencer's spitting continued.

                    © 2006 by Robert M. Simmons

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Subjects: poems about, spitting, anti-social behavior, Middleboro MA, public apathy, poetry, poems

Spencer the Spitter