@peachesanddiesel has nothing to do with poetry or politics. Sometimes I just need to laugh. Peaches takes real life fashion from red carpets, advertisements, etc. and makes them herself from scraps of fabric, then posts herself wearing them on Instagram. It's hysterical and I've gotten all my most stressed friends to follow her. I truly laugh out loud!!
I adore Mike Bisbiglia as a stand up and his instagram always provides a laugh. Conan's too.
I also love @meetcutesNYC and every and any Vermont related instagram site.
Absolutely. Now with the LA Times unforgivable decision, I am reeling. If not for having to deal with book matters, I would just take to my bed and suck my thumb!
Three other good humor sites are Points in Case (short essays) and Defenestration (poetry and CNF) and Witcraft (poetry and...). Witcraft also publishes previously published works so get out your humorous poems...
Thanks for sharing, Gary. I only recently learned about Points in Case and I've enjoyed a bit of what I've seen.
Witcraft has really come out the door swinging. They're recently in the lit community news for expressing difficulties with Duotrope and Stripe (as Becky Tuch has reported on her substack Lit Mag News).
Defenestration I probably haven't given a fair shot.
@peachesanddiesel has nothing to do with poetry or politics. Sometimes I just need to laugh. Peaches takes real life fashion from red carpets, advertisements, etc. and makes them herself from scraps of fabric, then posts herself wearing them on Instagram. It's hysterical and I've gotten all my most stressed friends to follow her. I truly laugh out loud!!
I adore Mike Bisbiglia as a stand up and his instagram always provides a laugh. Conan's too.
I also love @meetcutesNYC and every and any Vermont related instagram site.
Thanks for sharing all these suggestions for light content! :)
I like that you're actively nudging stressed friends towards sources of relief. That's definitely my aim for this piece.
I'm a big Mike Birbiglia fan, too! Though, admittedly some of those specials are actually kinda dark.
Speaking of the NYC-related accounts... I didn't include it but I'm a fan of the absurdity of Overheard New York -- https://www.instagram.com/overheardnewyork/
Thank you for the suggestions! It is hard to stay upright during these time.
It really is, isn't it? Oof. Difficult times just to get through each day.
Absolutely. Now with the LA Times unforgivable decision, I am reeling. If not for having to deal with book matters, I would just take to my bed and suck my thumb!
Oh no, I hadn't heard about this LA Times situation...
The top of my head is flying off!
https://www.thewrap.com/la-times-reader-backlash-kamala-harris-endorsement/
oh my goodness 🤦♂️💔
In case you want a taste, here are two poems I've published in Defenestration
Eleven Ways of Participating on Zoom
I.
In bed, back propped up against
two pillows wearing your alma
mater sweatshirt.
II.
With your laptop on your thighs, tilted
at forty-five degrees, so the audience
has a clear view of your nostril’s contents.
III.
On your office desktop, professionally
dressed, with lots of impressive books
that you haven’t read behind you.
IV.
Eating dinner so everyone will know
you eat meat and don’t chew enough.
V.
After any meal with colorful food bits
protruding from between incisors
and bicuspids.
VI.
Sitting in front of a blindingly bright
window—face obscured like someone from
the anti-terrorist squad being interviewed.
VII.
With your cat walking back and forth in front
of your webcam, especially if it has
high contrast pelage such as black and white.
VIII.
With a fake background that looks like
it’s trying to absorb your body
like a predatory amoeba.
IV.
With a dog by your side that keeps whining
from lack of attention and eventually dumps
on the floor, while you yell shit, shit, shit.
X.
Just out of the shower with a canary-yellow
towel wrapped around your damp hair,
and a partially open terry cloth robe.
XI.
Exercising on your treadmill, head
continuously bobbing up and down
like a drunken chicken.
Defenestration April 2024
CAPTCHA
You’re an A-hole really,
my optic nerve skewered
far into my cerebellum.
by this chastity belt for
the Web. Postage stamp
pictures, grainier than beach
sand, but missing warmth.
Hacker no, hackee yes,
but minor troubles, once
a laptop purchase—quickly
erased, though the schmuck
reordered sixty-four minutes
later. But you, CAPTCHA,
you’ve held me hostage
one hundred plus times
Mark all photos with toe
shoes, mark all photos with
with cyanobacteria,
mark all photos with
tires made in Kurume
Japan, mark all photos with a
book title in six point
Gothic.
After three rounds I curse this
century, and then just exhale.
Defenestration 21 December 2022
Three other good humor sites are Points in Case (short essays) and Defenestration (poetry and CNF) and Witcraft (poetry and...). Witcraft also publishes previously published works so get out your humorous poems...
Thanks for sharing, Gary. I only recently learned about Points in Case and I've enjoyed a bit of what I've seen.
Witcraft has really come out the door swinging. They're recently in the lit community news for expressing difficulties with Duotrope and Stripe (as Becky Tuch has reported on her substack Lit Mag News).
Defenestration I probably haven't given a fair shot.