Synopsis "Against Melancholy: Lyric Essays"
This book is made of lyric essays, a poet's reactions to situations and events that may be poorly and incompletely understood and remembered by the general public. The accepted version of a happening is often a bunch of distortions disseminated by politicians, fat cats, journalists, and media lackeys like the good folks at NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, and especially by the publishers of magazines and blogs who always have special interests in mind. Experience turns some of us into sceptics of popular culture so that we see what others miss. We grow out of the pre-adolescent mind set that thrives on Disney stories and cartoons. We see much of the business of the world not as a fairy tale, but as a slapstick conflict where good intentions often clash, producing comedy. Bad intentions, on the other hand, also produce comedy and humor when they come into conflict, the bright side of tragedy. Ya gotta laugh sometimes. Why do we like America's Funniest Home Videos? Somebody else slipping on a banana peel, a ski slope, or a race track gives us a thrill that we find funny. Perhaps all humor is tragic, and we ought to laugh at our own distress just as we laugh at others'. Try to find the humor in these essays. When you do so, your reward will be evident to you.
