The Serious Joke Is No Laughing Matter

In reading through one of the annual Poetry magazine Humor Issues, I was struck by how genuinely unfunny most of the verse was and how hysterical the letters, reviews and commentary were. Then, in a mock review of a new book of poems by Louise Glück (who has never impressed me, much to my chagrin) was this prologue to a book called Hensonia...

Overture
David Orr

It's time to play the music,

it's time to light the lights -

here, in the vast theater

that was home to us once,

before the song ended, and the curtain

swept down in a great wave,

casting us forth

to make an end of desire

in the blossoming of desire.

Do you remember, Kermit -

A woman and a frog lie on a white bed;

I look out over the sterile snow ...

We were made fools of.

And this opening, this broken

surrender - this

is what we call the Muppet show.

And it's silly, and witty, and yes, even somehow touching with the desolate and plain touch real poetry can give you. It's supposed to be a joke, but the funniest part is how well it works. It's certainly far better than the majority of what the magazine publishes on a regular basis. There's a companion piece from the Hensonia cycle that I'm saving for a rainy day - just as good.