A Nice Conversation Poem by RIC BASTASA

last night a nice conversation
was made between two
people who claim
to be friends, they were talking
about pain and sorrow
and how they must
be resolved
solved and eradicated
like dirt and warts

existential angst
making her tipsy like she was drunk
of vodka mixed with champagne
she keeps on asking
why

why people get sad and sadder and
sadder still despite
a heavy meal
and a surrounding of friends that come
to her house on sundays

it is hard to understand life
and suddenly by impulse
one says: the key to understanding life
is art,
your art that conquers this pain
that mimics
its wiles and bites and pinch

come then, let us imitate it
and mimic it and mock it
life with art
let us see let us feel
let us dance let us sing
let us chant
let us have poetry

let us forget time
let us forget who hurts us

come let us not be ourselves
let us be someone else

and life shall now be deluded
there is no us, there is no ego now that we have smashed it
like fragile glasses shattered in the gutters