[New-Poetry] Re: Calling Dr. Giggles

[David Graham]

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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