Offbeat Laugh

The urn dropped—

a dull clatter on cold linoleum,

a sound too loud for the room.

Everyone froze, and then a joke

about Aunt Rose’s cooking slipped out,

a brittle thing breaking the silence.

My laugh caught between guilt and relief,

as if cracking open that brittle shell

might let some light back in the room.

For one bad second, the room was broken,

a little messy,

and human like that.