That
After that he lost his sense of humor.
It wasn't that nothing was funny.
It was just that that wasn't funny.
It was just that. That and a world that
could allow that to happen. Nothing
funny in the world after that. Before that
everything funny in the world was only funny
because that hadn't happened yet. And yet
it had happened. And it had been happening
in the world ever since the world
had begun. How to reconcile that
was the question. How in the world to
laugh with that in the world? That was
the riddle, the conundrum whose answer
was once a clever pun but now was just
this bruised silence, this dumb twitching,
this tongue cut right out.
- © Paul Hostovsky 2023
Paul Hostovsky's poems have won a Pushcart Prize and two Best of the Net Awards. He makes his living in Boston as a sign language interpreter. Website: paulhostovsky.com
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