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Can serious poetry be funny? Chaucer and Shakespeare would say yes, and so do the authors of these 187 poems that address timeless concerns but that also include comic elements.
Beginning with the Beats and the New York School and continuing with both marquee-name poets and newcomers, Seriously Funny ranges from poems that are capsized by their own tomfoolery to those that glow with quiet wit to ones in which a laugh erupts in the midst of terrible darkness.
Most of the selections were made in the editors’ battered compact car, otherwise known as the Seriously Funny Mobile Unit. During the two years in which Barbara Hamby and David Kirby made their choices, they’d set out with a couple of boxes of books in the back seat, and whoever wasn’t driving read to the other. When they found that a poem made both of them think but laugh as well, they earmarked it.
Readers will find a true generosity in these poems, an eagerness to share ideas and emotions and also to entertain. The singer Ali Farka Touré said that honey is never good when it’s only in one mouth, and the editors of Seriously Funny hope its readers find much to share with others.
Beginning with the Beats and the New York School and continuing with both marquee-name poets and newcomers, Seriously Funny ranges from poems that are capsized by their own tomfoolery to those that glow with quiet wit to ones in which a laugh erupts in the midst of terrible darkness.
Most of the selections were made in the editors’ battered compact car, otherwise known as the Seriously Funny Mobile Unit. During the two years in which Barbara Hamby and David Kirby made their choices, they’d set out with a couple of boxes of books in the back seat, and whoever wasn’t driving read to the other. When they found that a poem made both of them think but laugh as well, they earmarked it.
Readers will find a true generosity in these poems, an eagerness to share ideas and emotions and also to entertain. The singer Ali Farka Touré said that honey is never good when it’s only in one mouth, and the editors of Seriously Funny hope its readers find much to share with others.
Precisely fits its title David Kirby and Barbara Hamby are both poets who specialize in seriously funny poems, and they’re very good at recognizing good poems by others that fit into this narrow but wondrous category.What we have here is 400 or so pages of accessible contemporary poetry that is:1) good2) treats some serious subject with respect and depth3) is funnyExactly as the title promises. You could dig for hours and read through a lot of mediocre poetry yourself to find these gems. Thank goodness the editors have done it for you.Buy the book. You won’t regret it, and you’re likely to find contemporary poets, new to you, whose books you will enjoy.
A serendipitous collection of poems My review in a nutshell: If you love contemporary poetry, get this book. If you love accessible poetry, get this book. And if you love poetry with literary depth, get this book.I am a huge fan of David Kirby and Barbara Hamby. They are refreshing voices in a crowded American poetry scene. So anything with their name(s) associated with it is worth the purchase sight unseen.I’ve now spent a few months with this book, and it keeps delivering.I keep pulling it off the shelf and letting the pages fall open, and more often than not, I get serendipity.Like the Billy Collins poem “The Trouble with Poetry,” (it’s not in this collection, but 4 of his are) reading these poems makes you want to write more poetry.I hope you will add this book to your collection, and look up other work by David and Barbara. You won’t be disappointed.