Rhymes with Humor
Jeff Friedman, an acclaimed poet and a lecturer in creative writing at Keene State, is author of seven collections 鈥� and is known for the humor in his work. He calls himself a 鈥減oet, fabulist, and storyteller鈥�; the poet Gerald Stern calls him 鈥渁 great liar and an even greater comedian.鈥� Friedman, whose course offerings includes a class on Writing Funny, says he began incorporating humor into his poems when he realized he was leaving a big part of his personality out of his writing.
Sometimes it鈥檚 more about being playful than being funny, he notes 鈥� about building a reality around something that couldn鈥檛 happen in the 鈥渞eal鈥� world, as in the way Kafka鈥檚 masterpiece The Metamorphosis is shaped around the concept of a man turning into a giant bug.
Friedman鈥檚 prose poem 鈥淐hair鈥� takes that approach: he鈥檇 been noticing how once healthy people begin to become hunched over and unhealthy looking after working long days in front of a computer. The result: this piece about a man who turns into a chair. What鈥檚 most funny about it, he says, is that the man鈥檚 wife doesn鈥檛 seem to mind.
CHAIR
When the man rises from a chair, after reading the newspaper, his body is shaped like a chair. Must be stiffness from sitting so long, he thinks, and stretches toward the ceiling, but his arms won鈥檛 reach and his lower half squats. He shouts for his wife to help him. She sweeps in from the kitchen. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 wrong?鈥� she asks. 鈥淚鈥檓 shaped like a chair,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e been hunching down like that for a while now,鈥� she answers and sits on his lap. 鈥淎nd you鈥檙e very comfortable.鈥� 鈥淚 can鈥檛 go to work like this,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hy not?鈥� she asks. 鈥淵ou sit all day. No one will notice, and besides you鈥檙e off for the week, so don鈥檛 worry.鈥� She brushes her lips against his. She kisses his nubby cheek, purring. 鈥淵our upholstery is lovely,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not funny,鈥� he snaps and tries to get up, but his wife yawns and stretches her legs over his arms, settling in for a nice long nap.
鈥� Jeff Friedman
Jeff Friedman reads his poem “Bear Fight”: