Laughing Sickness Poem by Raj Dronamraju

Messed up jesters chuckle with intent
Spitting wholly fabricated synopsis of a favorite obscenity
Doing the old soft shoe on an undertone of artificial sawdust
It was well rehearsed to look like split second improvisation

But to know they are serious about this point
What is expected is non-negotiable
If you don't give it up after the appropriate performance
The curtain will force the end of your participation

She's a parade
And they march in and out of her
Through the crowd drifts the bad humor men
With their littlest truth piggybacking on the biggest joke

They mean to greet everything with irony
As if comedians were magnifying glasses
And our puffed up selves appeared bigger than they are
Heartier than a good guffaw, robust like a pie in the face