I wonder sometimes whether writing these funny, shallow poems is a way of not taking myself seriously as a poet. Is this a defensive posture? A kind of false modesty? It certainly feels self-protective. After all if I write in such a mode I have little to lose if someone doesn't find it amusing.

The best poems of this type are ones that include a certain "vulnerability" along with the humor. I tend to respond badly to certain "jokey" poetry of others when it reminds me too much of my own worst impulses. A certain kind of joke poem seems a dime-a-dozen. The 4th-hand New York school poem any number of people could have written and in fact have written. I love Ron Padgett, but I don't think we need another couple dozen Ron Padgetts.