what does the word
‘delighted’ mean to you
that feeling of being
anything but blue
full of happiness, smiles and bliss
the sort of joy sealed with a kiss
aunties responding to the news
of new nieces and nephews
little salivating men
fat fingers waggling  
with thoughts for tasty provisions
curious kittens wearing ridiculous ribbons
cows going moo
trips to the zoo
swinging pants with elephants
rhinos, giraffes, monkeys
ooh-ooh-ooh
a penny-whistle-playing
rainbow-leaping unicorn
delighting one and all
mouths round and open
like turning clown heads
catching ping-pong balls
see
it always kills me
(with laughter; I’m not allergic
to it or anything)
when I see an extreme band
of any precise idiom
be it viciously uptight
to forlorn dejection
post on socials about
how ‘delighted’ they are
to release a new album
or piece of merch
maybe even the announcing
of a tour
the exact event in question
not really all that important here
instead the fact I can’t help but picture
them all—spiky,
gruesome-looking types
to generalise a genre—
at a keyboard somewhere
Ollie Oilslick lead guitar with
Angry At The System plus
Glum Shakes singer of
Morbid Mordacity
making the post with faces lit up
smiles wide as sunbeams
cracking through the corpse paint
hands clapping with glee
jumping for joy
bouncing up and down
as on a trampoline
well,
just moving a bit on the spot
more of a sway to be fair
but nonetheless given the
music’s demeanour
and then there’s the irony too
of how the just afore
mentioned demeanour
is cancelled out by the upward
feeling of elation
the condition of being ‘delighted’ brings
so making perfect Zen symmetry
of the whole thing

With thanks to D. D. Buck^ for use of the header image (licensing).

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