Liz Truss or Lettuce

I was working on a poem to send to Rattle Poets Respond, which is an online series from Rattle in which poets submit new work based on something that happened in the news that week. I was literally on the last step to submit this poem when my daughter E, who lives in London, UK, told me that Liz Truss was about to make a statement. I delayed hitting send and, in those few minutes, the poem became moot. Still, I thought it was worth sharing here as a moment in time.

Liz Truss or Lettuce

Which will last longer?
asks the Daily Star.

On Day One, the iceberg
is unadorned, but soon

enhanced with googly
eyes, a smile,

sprouts a full head
of blonde hair.

While the PM dodges
questions, sheds

Cabinet ministers,
the lettuce tries to stay

fresh, despite the spotlight,
enjoys snacks, a glass

of wine, some tofu
on day six, a nod

to the departed
Home Secretary.

The bookies’ current
odds are 1 / 2

that Liz will outlast
the lettuce.

Place your bets
before it’s too late.

Rattle also requests an explanatory note and links to the news stories involved. This is what I had prepared:
With the government of UK Prime Minister Liz Truss in turmoil, the Daily Star has a livestream of her photo beside an increasingly adorned head of lettuce. Brits seem to have a special talent for finding humor in any situation. A clip explaining the Home Secretary/tofu connection can be found here.

If anyone is moved to share this post or poem, please include my name, Joanne Corey. I hope it will give people a smile or chuckle, however rueful.

Lettuce wins!

sense of humor (or lack thereof)

I often joke about my lack of a sense of humor.

Wait! That doesn’t sound right…

I enjoy certain kinds of humor – irony, satire, political, word play, parody – but don’t like humor that is cruel, crude, or aimed at personal or group identity. For example, when I was young in my tiny, tiny town, other kids would often tell Polish or Italian or “dumb blonde” jokes. I didn’t find them funny then and still do not.

I can’t really tell jokes. Maybe it is a matter of timing.

I am sometimes inadvertently funny. Occasionally, I’ll fall into a double entendre without meaning to. Once in a great while, I won’t catch a joke and say something that the other people in the room find hilarious.

What bothers me is when people find something funny that I mean to be serious. This usually happens when I have written something. When it happens here at Top of JC’s Mind, it’s no harm, no foul. (I almost typed “no harm, no fowl,” which would be a humorous mistake.)

When it happens while workshopping a poem, however, I get discouraged. Sometimes, I can choose different words to clarify, but, other times, it seems that I am too earnest/unsophisticated/serious to even find the humor to address it.

Sigh. It’s really not funny.
*****
Join us for Linda’s Just Jot It January! Today’s prompt is “humor” but you can post about anything you like. I often do my own thing. Find out all about it here:  https://lindaghill.com/2020/01/20/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-20th-2020/

One-Liner Wednesday: Long Words

Things are so busy right now, I missed doing One-Liner Wednesday this week, so I am sharing one from Mathemagical in honor of my younger daughter T who has long owned a favorite T-shirt with this word. Have fun listening to the companion song!

April fool

It’s April first, also known as April Fools’ Day, when pranks and practical jokes abound.

I am not participating and am attempting to avoid as much of the folderol as possible.

I have never enjoyed pranks and let’s just say that I am not known for my sense of humor. Or maybe more accurately, I don’t have a broad sense of humor, which most April-Fools’-Day-ness requires.

My natural resistance to it is only part of the story. There are just too many serious circumstances and happenings right now – both on a national/international level and among family and friends – for me to spend time dealing with jokes and false news stories and such.

So, I’m opting out and trying to get my head together to deal with the remainder of Holy Week and Easter amidst the challenges of winter-becoming-spring.

JC

One-Liner Wednesday: bagels

“Protect your bagels – put lox on them”
– sign at the Vestal NY Best Bagels in Town.

Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays!  http://lindaghill.com/2015/02/04/one-liner-wednesday-angry-rose/

Farewell, Colbert Report!

We have watched – okay, recorded and watched at a more reasonable hour – the entire run of The Colbert Report. We will miss Stephen’s smart, wickedly funny but pointed humor and wish him well with his new gig, after, one hopes, a well-deserved rest.

In tribute, I offer this link to a clip of the song from his finale with the people labelled. I knew it had to exist somewhere…