wanting to learn
liking to drink
I go to a talk
in a Farringdon pub
where I learn that beer
is £4 a pint
and predict that I will
do more learning than drinking
in an aperture overture
a sulking laptop projects
the silence of the larynx
and I am equally speechless
the theme is laughter
the play of dogs
the tickling of rats
intercostal spasm
computer compliant
we hear voices
the crack-ups of commentators
awash in the lurch of waveforms
I resolve to play more
in ad hoc ensembles
of that wheezy pipe
the glottal whistle.
© Paul Taylor 2013
Written after a visit to Pint of Science, May 2013, for an enjoyable pub talk on laughter by Nadine Lavan & Sophie Scott. Moaning about paying £4 for a pint is itself almost laughable now.