THE LAUGH: a poem

this poem basically sums up my entire senior year, and how i've been spending my time just having a laugh with my two best friends.

THE LAUGH

sitting together, making no sound

we could all use a laugh

~

huddled together, backs to the world

we all need a laugh

~

all around us, silence grows

boredom and anger besides

you're pissed off

he plays with a piece of string

i fight to open my eyes

we all need a laugh

~

as if a silent agreement passes

we sit at attention and wait

pondering, resolute

we desperately need a laugh

~

it starts off slow

someone says something mundane

a moment passes; someone says the same

we all start to laugh

~

it continues to build

a smile, a chuckle, a giggle, a snort

the dam gives way

and all hillarity breaks loose

to compose our beautiful laugh

~

you're ghasping for breath

he seems to have swallowed a goose

i am a great explosion which reaps the same:

a great, shining laugh

~

i snort when i giggle

you giggle when i snort

he honks when you chuckle

chuckle induces snort

laughter feeds laughter

and time floats away

all that remains is the laugh

~

cold, awkward stares beat our backs

but our faces are too warm to care

you're a crying asian man

pants full of starfish

while his mouth seems as though

it could ingest the moon

i can't see me, but i know i'm red,

spontaneously combusting in my seat

our own world fortified

we can't see beyond humor

empty room, now alone

only helps to streingthen the laugh.

~

but, alas, humor wears off

all too very soon

minds return to time

faces regain their shapes

the haphazard music of laughter

reaches its final phrase

spastic throats passing now

only air

we've all had our laugh

~

realizations all met at once

no one will speak the phrase

eyes search eyes

memory searches mind

but only recover gaze for clueless gaze

no one knows

we don't understand

what it was, exactly

that first made us laugh?