The Hollow Ha Ha
The invitation lands, a creased and coffee-stained
rectangle of possibility.
*Sure, why not?* you murmur, and the door swings in
on unoiled hinges, a sound like a swallowed scream.
Inside, the air tastes of rust and forgotten punchlines.
The walls are papered with yellowing headlines:
*LOCAL MAN FINDS HAPPINESS, MISPLACES KEYS*
*WOMAN WELL-KNOWN FOR SMILE DROWNS IN TEACUP*
*PROPHET LAUGHS SO HARD AT OWN JOKE, HE VANISHES.*
You came for poetry, for the blade’s clean edge.
But here, the blade is a prop.
A rubber knife in a magician's trick,
that, when plunged into the chest of a memory,
squirts a crimson flower into your face.
The audience of shadows howls.
You try to craft a verse from the absurd:
the keys you found, but not the door they fit,
the profound truth you whispered to a stranger,
who replied, *"That's what she said,"*
the god you prayed to who sent a meme back,
a laughing emoji crying tears of joy.
The grin isn't on a face. It’s in the cut.
It’s the fine, red line that appears on your finger
as you reach for the rose in the magician's trick,
the one that bleeds to a rhythm, a clumsy iambic pentameter.
You realize the blood is just ink.
And the pain is just the prick of a punchline.
You came to write. To make the darkness sing.
But the darkness is already here, in the empty chair,
telling a shaggy dog story about a star that burned out,
a story so long and pointless, the punchline is the silence
when it finally ends, a silence so deep
you hear the echo of your own *sure, why not*
still bouncing off the walls.
So you sit. You listen.
And in the hollow, ha-ha of the void,
you find the only poem you were ever meant to write:
a list of things you've lost,
written on a napkin,
with a pen that doesn't work.
Post Comments
Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.
Please
Login
to post a comment
Turn off ads, get more exposure for your poetry, and get more features with a
Premium Membership.
