Aug 6, 2020
CREATIVE NON-FICTION
My Funny Bone Is Whack!
What amuses me would perplex you
“What’s so funny?”
How can I make you understand? You enjoy the crass and slap-stick; that’s not my idea of amusing.
What amuses me would perplex you — like scientific or mathematical jokes:
Beware of dieting advice that recommends ‘light eating’ — that’s how you become a black hole.
Parallel lines have so much in common… It’s a shame they’ll never meet.
Or British humor (begins at 2:05):
And I really do love witty repartee — intellectual humor that makes me stop and think. There’s nothing more delightful than a back-handed slap said in a jovial voice. Or the famous dictionary feud between Faulkner and Hemingway, in which Faulkner said of Hemingway:
he had no courage, that he had ‘never been known to use a word that might send the reader to the dictionary.’
And then Hemingway’s witty reply:
Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don’t know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use.
Yes, exchanges like that send me into fits of uncontrollable giggles.
However, if you really want to know what I am finding so funny at this very moment — well it is simply this: the joy of watching a puppy retrieve a ball from a pond, bring it to its owner, drop it and have it roll downhill into the pond, again and again and again.
See, I’m not a complete laughter snob!
©2020 Lori Carlson. All Rights Reserved.
This beautiful mess came about from a prompt by Martin Rushton.
Lori Carlson writes poetry, fiction, articles, creative non-fiction and personal essays. Most of her topics are centered around Relationships, Spirituality, Life Lessons, Mental Health, and the LGBTQ+ community. In addition to writing for Illumination, Lori also writes for eighteen other publications here on Medium. Check out her personal Medium blog here.
