My Reply to Jim Behrle's Blog Entry "The Nice Poem"

As someone who's written humorous haiku, I think that most of the time, the form has to be strict in order for the joke to work. To me, it's the setting. It's like doing an SNL skit with two diners and a waiter. There has to be a restaurant background to even have a chance of working (which is unlikely, given that it's an SNL skit, but I digress).

Have you ever seen a from poem done humorously and break basic rules that allow it to be identified as the form? I haven't. I'd like to see it, though. I don't think it could be done, but that might be admitting mental limitations on my part.

Although, when you think of it, the 5-7-5 rule is diluted (or so I've read) from the original rule which had less to do with syllables and more to do with they way the poet took breaths. So our haikus do humor and rule breaking, but then again they still adhere to a rule that replaced the original.

That's the only footnotes I can thank of adding to what was a great post. I have the feeling I should take the poem "An Editor's Dialogue" and change the title to "Nice Poem."