The Room Laughed
The room laughed.
“I don’t know why people laugh”
He said.
“The man who used to sit in the middle there
Well he hung himself last week.
This is a serious disease.
I don’t know why people laugh”
Our eyes raise
The roof above white as paper.
We prayed that night
For the empty chair.
The hanged man.
The sad disease.
The laughing room.
Sten Rod Ramkhur is a previously unpublished middle-aged poet currently living in the Shetland Islands. They have worked for many years as a librarian across Europe and Asia.