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'Asked to talk or write on humour in prose or poetry, I have frequently refused. Audiences generally expect that a discussion of humour should be humorous in itself, but that's a matter for after-dinner speakers, paid comedians, and stand-up comics who work from scripts with another end in view. I have reflected on comedy and humour for as long as I can remember, wondering less perhaps at the things that make us laugh or smile than at the fact that we do so. Like the nature of poetry, the nature of comedy compels self-reflection in those who practise it or are concerned by it. Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose hinges on the attempt to expunge comedy from the world, yet the joke, if one can call it that, is that the copy of the ancient treatise that lies at the heart of the novel's interest kills those who inquire too deeply. It is as if humour is, in one interpretation of the medieval world-view (for that world is infinitely amenable to manipulation), a notion not to be countenanced. The novel itself is a disquisition on the mind of a puritan for whom the idea of a divine comedy is appalling; to such a mind, a comedic account of nature appears to call into question the seriousness of the creator—artist. Eco's puritanical custodian of the book on comedy is a type of censor for the ages: closed-society guardian, book-burner, torturer and burner of people. Comedy and humour, so considered, are serious matters.' (Introduction)
Bradstock considers humour in the poetry of Joanne Burns with reference to 'Marinations', 'HOW' and 'Penelope's Knees' as well a particular examination of 'Mere Anarchy'.
Emery enters the debate about popularising poetry and the need to keep journals such as Five Bells open to 'all shades of opinion and skill'. He concludes on a personal note, stating 'I like poetry that I have to read more than once, poetry that reveals other possibilities on each subsequent reading but I have to be encouraged to read that poem a second time by something on the surface, maybe tone, mabye imagery, maybe music, maybe ideas, which attracts me and, perhaps, puzzles me.'
Langford explores the nature of narrative, declaring it 'the means by which the ego becomes visible'. He contrasts narrative and poetry. Poetry, he says, 'occurs in the space between narratives. [...] Poems are written in the space in which free will is impossible: one step back from the event. Langford concludes, 'Narrative asks, How shall this conflict end justly? Poetry asks, After justice, what then?'
Featherstone reports on the The Red Room Company's 'Poetry for Toilet Doors' project to be commissioned in late 2004. Six NSW poets will be asked to write poems that will then be distributed to schools, universities, community centres, libraries, etc for display in public toilets.
