For my final mentor text I read “Dogfight” by Calvin Trillin, the 2012 presidential campaign in written verse. I used this book to study more comedic writing, Trillin being a respected humorist.
The first thing I noticed about writing funny poem is that you want to make them just the right length. Amidst the chapters that are all just long aabbccdd etc. rhyming chapters, there are little blurbs that I find to be the funniest part of the whole book. “The pundits say Obama must discuss / our plights but sound much less like Gloomy Gus: / we need the-only-thing-we-have-to-fear leaders, / or, failing that, the Dallas Cowboy’s cheerleaders.” A goal of Trillin’s was to keep the solo poems just the right length on each topic so the reader wouldn’t lose interest or forget the setup before the punchline arrives.
Secondly I realized how much characterization was prominent in these poems. I mean, it had to be, it was writing about nonfiction events with real people so obviously things had to be said about them. The most intriguing part of Trillin’s characterization was how little he could actually talk about the character and more about how they affected the world around them. The whole chapter of Obama’s introduction is a great example to which I’ll give you a taste: “...foreigners from Rome to Yokohama / were cheering for an American: Obama. / From this vote, they were willing to infer / we aren’t the people they had thought we were. / And Lady Liberty, as people call her, / was standing in the harbor somewhat taller. / The task this man would face, of course, was humbling: / The whole economy had started crumbling.” We get the sense of this saving grace of a president who has changed American government forever and will now face his biggest challenge yet. All without saying a word about what he’s done or who he is.
The final very important thing I learned was how to keep things universal. Of course every author has a demographic whether its intended or not, but it helps to keep things recognizable to many people. I don’t know the first thing about politics, but this is the only Trillin book they have at the library, so here I am. I am enjoying the book and learning all the while. “We pick Rick / yes, Rick’s with whom we will stick. / He’s the guy / All over whom we’re swarming. / We pick Rick. / Though some imply he’s a hick. / He well knows / there is no global warming.” This poem about Rick Santorum is one of my favorites in the entirety of “Dogfight”, and I didn’t even know who we was before I started reading. I could paint a vivid image in my mind with that bit and how it continues. I learned my poems don’t need to be funny to everyone, but I should at least try and get people to understand them.
The first thing I noticed about writing funny poem is that you want to make them just the right length. Amidst the chapters that are all just long aabbccdd etc. rhyming chapters, there are little blurbs that I find to be the funniest part of the whole book. “The pundits say Obama must discuss / our plights but sound much less like Gloomy Gus: / we need the-only-thing-we-have-to-fear leaders, / or, failing that, the Dallas Cowboy’s cheerleaders.” A goal of Trillin’s was to keep the solo poems just the right length on each topic so the reader wouldn’t lose interest or forget the setup before the punchline arrives.
Secondly I realized how much characterization was prominent in these poems. I mean, it had to be, it was writing about nonfiction events with real people so obviously things had to be said about them. The most intriguing part of Trillin’s characterization was how little he could actually talk about the character and more about how they affected the world around them. The whole chapter of Obama’s introduction is a great example to which I’ll give you a taste: “...foreigners from Rome to Yokohama / were cheering for an American: Obama. / From this vote, they were willing to infer / we aren’t the people they had thought we were. / And Lady Liberty, as people call her, / was standing in the harbor somewhat taller. / The task this man would face, of course, was humbling: / The whole economy had started crumbling.” We get the sense of this saving grace of a president who has changed American government forever and will now face his biggest challenge yet. All without saying a word about what he’s done or who he is.
The final very important thing I learned was how to keep things universal. Of course every author has a demographic whether its intended or not, but it helps to keep things recognizable to many people. I don’t know the first thing about politics, but this is the only Trillin book they have at the library, so here I am. I am enjoying the book and learning all the while. “We pick Rick / yes, Rick’s with whom we will stick. / He’s the guy / All over whom we’re swarming. / We pick Rick. / Though some imply he’s a hick. / He well knows / there is no global warming.” This poem about Rick Santorum is one of my favorites in the entirety of “Dogfight”, and I didn’t even know who we was before I started reading. I could paint a vivid image in my mind with that bit and how it continues. I learned my poems don’t need to be funny to everyone, but I should at least try and get people to understand them.