Week 1 PROMPT:
This week, writers, I challenge you to allow space for the absurd or a
comical element of a story to find its way into a poem. We have been
trained to believe that only severity and struggle are respectable forms
of poetry, that a poem with humor is not sophisticated enough to be "a
real poem." We are expected to only tell our stories a specific kind of
way. But most of us recite anecdotes to our friends and family in ways
that we don't present in our writing. We have been shamed into believing
humor has no place in poetry. But isn't poetry itself a form of
escapism? Is it not language drawn to confront what we cannot? Humor is
another form of life raft. It keeps us afloat, it helps us derail the
heavy stuff in a way that is manageable. Why have I never written about
my dad diving his fist into the salad bar and throwing a handful of
cherry tomatoes at the bigoted waitress? Why can’t all of us figure out
how to allow our joy and sorrow and shame to coexist in the same stanza
like Regie Cabico?!?! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FY6FYTOEh0)
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