The Ha-Ha

by Kirby, David

• ISBN13: 9780807128947
• ISBN10: 0807128945
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-10-01
• Publisher: Louisiana State Univ Pr

Summary

A feature of English landscape architecture, a ha-ha is a wall at the bottom of a ditch; its purpose is to allow the presence of cows and sheep on one's lawn, but at an agreeable distance and with none of the malodorous unsightliness that proximity would bring. Similarly, The Ha-Ha, the latest offering from poet David Kirby, is both an exploration of the ways in which the mind invites chaos yet keeps it at a distance and an apologia for humor, reflecting Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh's observation that tragedy is merely underdeveloped comedy. Embracing wit, wide-ranging scholarship, and a love of travel as well as the pleasures of home, The Ha-Ha depicts comedy as a radical form of intelligence, a way of thinking that just happens to be noisy and rumbustious. Book jacket.

Author Biography

David Kirby is the Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of English at Florida State University.

Table of Contents

The Ha-Ha, Part I: The Tao of Bo Diddley	1	(6)
The Fugawi	7	(3)
The Werewolf	10	(3)
Someone Naked and Adorable	13	(2)
Americans in Italy	15	(3)
Lame as a Robin	18	(2)
Letters to Juliet	20	(2)
A Man Like You but Older	22	(2)
The Little Sisters of the Sacred Heart	24	(3)
Looking for Percy Sledge	27	(2)
Public Idiot	29	(3)
Calling Robert Bly	32	(3)
On My Mother's Blindness	35	(2)
France/Francine's Begonias	37	(4)
The Search for Baby Combover	41	(5)
The Elephant of the Sea	46	(2)
Borges at the Northside Rotary	48	(5)
The Ha-Ha, Part II: I Cry My Heart, Antonio	53