Today's poem is by Cindy King

Hysterical
       

A happy summer's day:
cut-offs and gladiator sandals.
Hungry lions, zero.
Heads on pikes, none.
Every person on earth,
regardless of tongue,
appears to be simultaneously laughing
while you go to the gym,
stay for a week on the elliptical.
It is your language.
At times you sit or lie still—
sleep, kombucha, vampires on TV.
But always you come back
to your gym and the elliptical.
This is not an apology,
but will someone tell you they're sorry?
You wouldn't ask but like a hen
that never roosts,
because you are a clucky,
cacophonous bird, too full
of spite and eggshells
to sit and brood.
Besides, there is the perpetual laughter.
Even when the joke is no longer funny.
Even when there isn't a joke.

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Copyright © 2024 Cindy King All rights reserved
from ONE ART: a journal of poetry
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission