funny story

it’s kind of a funny story-
how disgruntled life can be,
in short passages, we lose,
find a reimbursed amount
of despair, the ache to let go,
not dragging anymore one day,
a step taken where winds await,

a story told, yet is unknown,
the body counts, owe nothing,
the end doth come without cure

(For Ned Vizzini)


It was sad to know about the passing of Galen Haynes, aka G-man. May he rest in peace.
Linking it up with Flash 55 at With Real Toads and Poetry Pantry at PU.
Image source 1, 2

“Life can’t be cured, but it can be managed.”
Ned Vizzini, It’s Kind of a Funny Story

21 thoughts on “funny story

  1. There is a very old song from around the 15th century which I learned a long time ago. One of the lines was “all our joys are but toys, idle thoughts deceiving. None hath power of an hour o’er the life’s bereaving.”
    This poem makes me think of that song, and of the fact that I have spent most of my life living with varying degrees of depression, and how harshly I have been judged for not being able to magically change my state of being. I think many of us are walking wounded, and we feel we have nowhere to turn because we are always ostracized for the way we are.
    Thank you for visiting me at


  2. I understand the idea of losing and then being reimbursed once again. Perhaps this pattern occurs throughout life. I also understand that so much of anyone’s story is unknown. Happy New Year, HA!


  3. ” find a reimbursed amount
    of despair”

    More to spend, more time before the end–and yet the tone of the poem belies its content. I’m not just talking about the title, first line, and delicious irony, but also “disgruntled” implies that the problems were gentle ones, “short passages” leaves room for longer ones of a different complexion, and “a step taken” shows some admiration for walking in the wind. I hope the death, ultimately, though incurable, came in its time and not before. What a delight again to read one of your poems, HA.


  4. ‘..a reimbursed amount
    of despair…’ great line. Futility at the quotidian nature of life should always find an expression, and I really like it when it can be ‘kind of a funny story’ as well.


  5. HA, nice to see you once again. Life certainly can be a bit disgruntled as we make our way through each day. I was sad to learn of the passing of the G-Man as many wrote to his prompt. May he rest in the other realm.


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