{"id":413167,"date":"2024-09-10T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-10T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=413167"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"I-m-just-laughing-to-keep-from-crying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/I-m-just-laughing-to-keep-from-crying\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019m just laughing to keep from crying"},"content":{"rendered":"

I haven\u2019t written a \u201csonnetina\u201d in a while. A \u201csonnetina\u201d is my poetic use of the three-form sonata with a sonnet as the development or central part. \u2018The basic elements of musical sonata form are three: exposition, development, and recapitulation, in which the musical subject matter is stated, explored or expanded, and restated.\u2019 In my case a sonnet is the development, and a limerick is the coda or recapitulation.<\/em><\/p>\n

The exposition is from The Fugs song \u201cLife Is Funny.\u201d The Fugs were an American rock band formed in the Lower East Side of NYC in 1964. Their music has been called \u201cprotopunk\u201d and avant-rock noise music.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m just laughing to keep from crying<\/h3>\n

Exposition:<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cLife is funny, life is free, got all them goodies coming to me,<\/p>\n

it\u2019s so funny I could cry, it\u2019s so funny you could die, it\u2019s so funny\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Development:<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n

Just when you think you will, you won\u2019t<\/p>\n

just when you think you\u2019ll do, you don\u2019t<\/p>\n

just when you think you can, you can\u2019t<\/p>\n

just when you want to rave, you rant<\/p>\n

just when you think you\u2019re cool, you\u2019re hot<\/p>\n

when you realize you\u2019re a fool and you are<\/p>\n

when you get ready to go and then you stop<\/p>\n

when you feel unsteady and then you fall<\/p>\n

when you think you\u2019re finished, and you begin<\/p>\n

when chances are diminished, and you move in<\/p>\n

when you finally complete a long assignment<\/p>\n

your mental gears then shift out of alignment<\/p>\n

are you beginning to get the picture? yes we see<\/p>\n

I am you; you are me, we\u2019re all relatively free.<\/p>\n

Coda; Recapitulation:<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n

Inside my thick skull hard to crack brain nut<\/p>\n

feeling sorry for myself I laugh and bust a gut<\/p>\n

trusting circular logic I fall into an unreal rut.<\/p>\n

Say what! This is just more ifs ands or buts.<\/p>\n

But isn\u2019t that what life is all about? Tut-tut.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Joey aka “Pepe Batbon” Connolly is a retired educator who taught in the CNMI, NOLA, and LVNV. He is the Poet Laureate of Tinian and enjoys stargazing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I haven\u2019t written a \u201csonnetina\u201d in a while. A \u201csonnetina\u201d is my poetic use of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-413167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}