Dark Humour - Oct 6 2023

 

Dark Humour

Oct 6 2023

Have the young

always been this humourless?

Is it possible

we were also that huffy

judgemental

ungenerous?

I guess that's the price

of youthful ideals

when the future seems so bleak.

As well as what you'd think would come

of the need to gain approval

from others like you.

While the old

have long ago

cast off any illusion

of changing the world,

retreating into private lives

and their intimate circles;

content to be small,

resigned

to an inconsequential life.

But mostly, we have ceased to deeply care

what others think of us;

no need to pose,

signal our virtue,

valorize purity.

Not when belonging

is no longer everything

and we have nothing left to prove.

Or perhaps, as age

has made us more and more invisible

we’ve come to better understand

our own insignificance.

More than enough time

to have failed often,

learned to laugh at ourselves,

and — if only grudgingly —

accepted our impotence.

The big picture

is no longer our concern;

not enough time for that.

So lighten up, we tell the young

don't take yourselves so seriously.

Laughter is good

and youth doesn't last

and the truth hurts less that way.

Even “dad jokes” and puns

are worth a smile.

Not to mention the dark humour

of politics

which offers endless amusement.

Where ridiculousness

intersects with pomposity,

and all you can really do

is give your head a shake

and laugh out loud.

Here's a good one. Definitely “dad joke” material. (With thanks to the Atlantic's James Parker.)

What do you get when you give a whale a camera?

Moby Dick pics.

If that doesn't elicit a smile, I don't knew what will!

I have no clue where these come from, except that they just keep coming. I have no idea — zero! — what I'm going to say; I just sit down — well-caffeinated and in the mood to write — and put down the first thing that pops into my head. The rest writes itself.

I'm very lucky: I get to experience the “flow state” every single day!