[New-Poetry] Re: Calling Dr. Giggles

[Chris Stroffolino]

I like humor....feel it's often necessary and all that
(humorlessness, inability to laugh at oneself, is often a criteria  
for me when deciding which poet I can or cannot read)

but i've given up on trying to argue about it for the most part--
some poets I find humorless others don't, etc...--.

I'll defend humor against the serious snobs who look at you weird  
when you laugh at a "serious" poetry reading or Shakespeare play...

Chris
On Sep 8, 2007, at 8:06 AM, David Graham wrote:

> In my little wrangle with the Poetry sub-editor on this issue, I  
> just pointed out what seemed and seems to me quite obvious:  we are  
> living in a humor-rich age of poetry.  More humor per page than  
> ever before, you bet.  From open mics to stand-up poetry and slams  
> to the average MFA-sponsored reading series, it's rare to attend a  
> poetry reading these days that is humor-free.  (Well, Jack  
> Gilbert's an exception to this as to many rules.)  And many quite  
> prominent poets (Billy Collins, Albert Goldbarth, Bob Hicok, John  
> Ashbery, the late Kenneth Koch, James Tate, Dean Young, David  
> Kirby, Denise Duhamel, Gerald Stern, Barbara Hamby, et al., not to  
> mention a number of NewPo members) seem to specialize in humor.   
> Even a poet like Lucille Clifton, who can be as grim as they come,  
> regularly leavens her books & readings with poems like "Homage to  
> My Hips."
>
> Doesn't all this seem obvious to everyone?  Apparently not. . . .
>
>
> ========================================
> David Graham
> grahamd at ripon.edu
>
> Home Page:
> http://web.mac.com/drjazz/iWeb/Site/About%20Me.html
>
> Poetry Library:
> http://web.mac.com/drjazz/iWeb/Site/DGPoLibrary.html
> ==========================================
>
>
>
> On Sep 7, 2007, at 10:49 AM, jforjames at aol.com wrote:
>
>> Suzanne, there is no aversion. I was saying the editor of Poetry  
>> wanted to see more humorous poems
>> submitted to poetry...she stated that she wasn't seeing enough of  
>> them.
>> http://www.poetrymagazine.org/magazine/0706/
>> David Graham tried to point out to her in a letter, as I recall,  
>> that there were quite few poets who regularly published funny poems.
>>
>> But I thnk the Poetry editor was correct...by & large we poets are  
>> a dour lot. Jack Gilbert has a short poem that goes something  
>> like, 'The Greek sailors don't play on the beach and I don't write  
>> funny poems'. (But he has frolicked a few times.)
>>
>> Recently there was a special feature in Jacket on humor & poetry  
>> that came out various discussions on the HumPo list.
>> http://jacketmagazine.com/33/humpo-discussion.shtml
>>
>> Finnegan
>>
>> The total absence of humour from the Bible is one of the most  
>> singular things in all literature.
>>
>> --Alfred North Whitehead
>> quoted in Price's Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Suzanne Burns <atelierjewelweed at gmail.com>
>> Bcc: jforjames at aol.com
>> Sent: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 9:42 pm
>> Subject: Re: [New-Poetry] Calling Dr. Giggles
>>
>>
>>
>> On 9/6/07, jforjames at aol.com <jforjames at aol.com> wrote:
>> One of the asst. editors of Poetry (in the special Humor issue)  
>> complained that there was dearth of comic poetry among the many  
>> submissions they get each year.
>>
>> Finnegan
>>
>>
>> What is this big aversion people have to funny, witty poems?  I  
>> have never been able to figure that out.   I think humor is one of  
>> the highest forms of intelligence.  Its a kind of emotional  
>> transcendance, an ability to break through the bullshit and  
>> defalte it with laughter.    What could be more valuable in a  
>> poem?  A lack of a sense of humor just stinks of cowardice.
>>
>> Someone explain this to me please.
>>
>> Suzanne Burns
>>
>
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