Aphonogelia Is No Laughing Matter

aphonogelia: A rarely used term for a neurologic finding in which a person is unable to verbalise laughter, or laugh out loud.

It was a joke, the ease with which I could possess her,
squeeze her diaphragm anytime I pleased,
shake her epiglottis, make her snort and wheeze.
I was infectious - a disease that could kill with a tickle,
or at least leave her crippled and weeping.

Then womanhood turned her inside out
stitched up her sides, straight and seemly,
overlocked for such a serious stretch
I thought it was the death of me.
I prayed for an alteration - an ease to the fit.

Confections, flat-felled are hard to unpick.
When she finally let herself out,
took down the hems and undid the girdles,
I ad libbed a gag - doubled her up
with a well delivered punch - a killer tag.
We can laugh about it now.

Stella Wulf


If you have any comments on this poem, Stella Wulf would be pleased to hear from you.