The Laughter of Women - Lisel Mueller

[Larry Robinson]

The Laughter of Women

The laughter of women sets fire 
to the Halls of Injustice 
and the false evidence burns 
to a beautiful white lightness 

It rattles the Chambers of Congress 
and forces the windows wide open 
so the fatuous speeches can fly out 

The laughter of women wipes the mist 
from the spectacles of the old; 
it infects them with a happy flu 
and they laugh as if they were young again 

Prisoners held in underground cells 
imagine that they see daylight 
when they remember the laughter of women 

It runs across water that divides, 
and reconciles two unfriendly shores 
like flares that signal the news to each other 

What a language it is, the laughter of women, 
high-flying and subversive. 
Long before law and scripture 
we heard the laughter, we understood freedom.

	- Lisel Mueller <https://m.poemhunter.com/lisel-mueller/>
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