Bogeymen

Sometimes you get stressed really bad
It continues for a long time
It becomes depression
It becomes normal
It’s all you know

One day you laugh very hard
You can’t stop laughing
No matter how hard you try
You worry others will think it odd
That you can’t stop laughing

Then some cool Navy Seals
Shoot Osama bin laden
They put two shots in the heart and one in the eye
As the pistol rises from recoil

You start to laugh again
You can’t stop laughing
No matter how hard you try
You worry others will think your
Laughing is odd

Then they start laughing
They can’t stop laughing
The newspapers laugh
Everyone on every TV channel is laughing
All over social media there is laughter

The liberals and the conservatives laugh
The fascists and the communists laugh
They can’t stop laughing
They are afraid to stop laughing
They are afraid to relinquish the distraction
Lest they see

Other boogeymen sitting
In the comfort of their
Vulnerable parlors
Thankful, Thankful
When we remember

The kids’ soccer game this Saturday
Hundreds of cable channels
Extra room on a credit card
Cheap gas for our fat cars.

Rick E Regine is a psychotherapist and a poet currently living in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he practices and writes. Read other articles by Rick E.