Punchlines And Metaphors

It’s working.
They have won,
at least with me:

I consume news
only to nourish
jokes and start
poems since it’s all
punchlines and 
metaphors.

Once it did seem
that there was
more to it, possibly
because there was
less of it and 

authority and 
authorship were
clearer. Or perhaps
there never was much good
or true to begin with and
at last I know better?

Either way —
all I can do
before this flood
is bow my head.
It’s working.
They’ve won for now
at least and 
I’ve got poems and 
jokes for days,
years even.

It’s all 
punchlines and
metaphors,
guffaws and tears

hardening upon contact
with air.  Hard enough
to hold

an edge, once sharpened.
Hard enough
to pierce through,

if I can just get it right.