This time again, afterwards, naked together
you point something out
& we laugh.
Struggling bones
a few fractures of regret
but now all that is forgotten.
A simple thing, the spasms of the lungs
air expelled like mortars
against battlements of ordinary.
This guffaw feeds & expels in equal measure —
one of the few unquestioned gifts, moments enlivened.
Siblings, out in the trees — chimps, bonobos —
all share this beneficence beyond intelligence.
A simple tickle can part branches,
smother a grudge.
For dolphins it’s pulses, followed by a whistle —
the sea is a great show.
By a generous heater, aged Labrador Rex
watches “his” human toddler pick up a ball
then fall spectacularly.
A pant, his play-face swivels as
the sleeping tail awakens.
Even rats, mining our humanity
the buffets of trash
they too chirp when the scurry is done
& nest-noise is dampened.
We can’t save the world, laughter might.
It’s too scattered to hear or annotate
this rogue wave roams the globe.
Nothing dies when it visits,
best futures drink it in.