What’s so funny?

Through the screen door, I saw my family, sitting in the backyard 

arranged in a circle arc on wooden chairs in wafts 

of roses and barbeque ribs and sauce that gusted from the grill –

as Michael bluntly remarked: “I don’t recall THAT being particularly funny.”

 

His brother, not one to equivocate in word or deed, 

dissolved into chortles of laughter and gleefully, responded: 

“Oh ya, Man – THAT was SO-O-O-O funny” ... and his sister,
ever the peacemaker, chimed in:  “Well, it was kind of funny, Mikes”

as the rest of the backyard kin, waded in with a cacophony of 

howls and guffaws, bubbling sniggles, cackles, whoops and giggles . . .

that, after a time, dwindled and drifted
unto the summer shush of a nearby sprinkler.

  

The patriarch of the clan, holding court sedately, chuckled softly, then: 

as I had heard him do so many times before – kindly, warmly, fondly –

as a jovial titter, skittered from Michael
and erupted into a full blown belly laugh 

that left him doubled over and gasping for air …

naturally, his dearly beloveds clamored right back in there 

for another round of hilarity – laughing so hard, 

I feared several of them would fall off their chairs, until finally,

they exhaled in deep buoyant breaths,

wiping­­ their eyes and melodically blowing their noses 

in mutters of e-e-e-ch and omigosh and geez

as Michael, having made his case – or so it seemed – 

pronounced, through wheezing snorts,

with as much solemnity as he could muster:

“Well, ya-a-a-a – NOW it’s funny!”

notes:  posted for Poets United.

Prose Poem - The prose poem appears as prose, but reads like poetry.  Though it lacks the line breaks associated with poetry, the prose poem maintains a poetic quality, often utilizing poetry fundamentals, such as repetition, rhyme and alliteration.  The form can range in length from a few lines to several pages and explores all genres and styles.  It gained popularity in the 19^th century in France, and was spread to England, Germany, Latin America and the US by writers such as Charles Baudelaire, William Wordsworth, Franz Kafka and Gertrude Stein.

photo:  Backyard Father’s Day Barbeque – W. Bourke

© 2015 Wendy Bourke