The force of laughing can dislocate jaws,
prompt asthma attacks,
cause headaches, make hernias protrude.
It can provoke cardiac arrhythmia, syncope
or even emphysema (this last,
according to a clinical lecturer in 1892).
Laughter can trigger the rare but possibly grievous
Pilgaard-Dahl and Boerhaave’s syndromes.
There are choking hazards,
such as ingesting food during belly laughs.
We don’t know how much laughter is safe.
There’s probably a U-shaped curve:
laughter is good for you,
but enormous amounts are bad, perhaps.
From Who Says Laughter’s the Best Medicine?, NYT, 20 December 2013. By Howie Good.
Verbatim Poetry 