Rows and rows of chairs lined up
And I whisper, “testing, testing”
Suddenly, something prods me to be peppy and I chuckle,
“Hey, there peeps!”.
It’s an empty room that will fill up eventually, with tired
blue collars.
Some white collars too, perhaps.
All looking to smile, to laugh, to “have a good time”.
Sometimes, in the middle of a set, I wonder what stories you
bring to the table.
Will you go home laughing and giggling into the next day’s
lunch break too?
Or will you go down those stairs, dejected by another
evening of city life, downed with a chilled beer?
Standing alone up here, I feel small.
Just as Sisyphus did when he hauled the rock up the
mountain.
Standing alone up here, I wonder,
How do I make strangers laugh?
When I merely smile at the rudiments of hilarity life offers
today?
It is easy to make people cry.
It is easy to comfort them.
It is easy to prod them into throes of forgetfulness.
But, in times when school shootings, wars, economic dips and
highs, fashion and too much technology
Govern our very being.
In such times, it is not easy to make the world laugh.
Standing alone up here, I am yours to seek.
Standing alone up here, I hope to see those smiles, those
nods
Turn into uproarious laughs, even if for just a moment.
Because in the maniacal way of the world today,
If I can make you laugh and forget all but the ringing
sounds of hahaha in your lungs
Then I have achieved what I sought, standing alone up here.
