<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><p class="pt32" style="line-height: 20px;">The Laughter of Women</p><p class="pt32" style="line-height: 20px;">The laughter of women sets fire <br class="">to the Halls of Injustice <br class="">and the false evidence burns <br class="">to a beautiful white lightness <br class=""><br class="">It rattles the Chambers of Congress <br class="">and forces the windows wide open <br class="">so the fatuous speeches can fly out <br class=""><br class="">The laughter of women wipes the mist <br class="">from the spectacles of the old; <br class="">it infects them with a happy flu <br class="">and they laugh as if they were young again <br class=""><br class="">Prisoners held in underground cells <br class="">imagine that they see daylight <br class="">when they remember the laughter of women <br class=""><br class="">It runs across water that divides, <br class="">and reconciles two unfriendly shores <br class="">like flares that signal the news to each other <br class=""><br class="">What a language it is, the laughter of women, <br class="">high-flying and subversive. <br class="">Long before law and scripture <br class="">we heard the laughter, we understood freedom.</p><font style="outline: none; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" class=""><a class="grilink pt32 text-writer italic" href="https://m.poemhunter.com/lisel-mueller/" target="_top" style="outline: none; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; white-space: pre;"> </span><font color="#000000" class="">- Lisel Mueller</font></a></font></body></html>