My little problem
"So, I was browsing the anarchy section at City Lights bookstore..."
This was the first part of a sentence that I had put together in my head after a recent visit to the ultra-liberal City Lights bookstore in San Francisco. City Lights is owned by pioneer beatnik and former poet laureate for the city of San Francisco, Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
The sentence was intended to be funny absurd, really and this first part of it hit the mark, at least when I told it to my wife as we cleaned up the kitchen after dinner the other night. She started laughing immediately.
"Wait," I said, "that's not the punch line." But it was too late. The very thought of someone me in particular browsing an anarchy section tickled her funny bone. Or maybe it was the mental image of an index card stuck to a bookshelf with big blocky letters spelling out the word anarchy and a hand-drawn arrow pointing left.
After she stopped chuckling and shaking her head, she looked at me as if to say, "Okay, what's the punch line?"
It seemed pointless now, but I told her anyway, repeating the whole sentence as I had intended it to be heard: "So, I was browsing the anarchy section at City Lights bookstore and it occurred to me that this sure isn't Barnes & Noble.
The words were barely out of my mouth before I realized that I had blown the joke. The first part of the sentence was, indeed, the funny part. I was...premature.
Oh my god: I came to the punch line too early.
Okay, so I haven't "done it" you know, written humor in a while. Ive been traveling a lot for my job. Its been kind of hectic. I've been under a lot of pressure, sure, but I've never been unable to...I've never been, well, premature with a punch line before. I sighed deeply. Jeeze. I mean, there it was, the punch line, right up front. No lead-in. No foreplay. Nothing.
"Oh, come on," my wife said, a comforting tone to her voice. "This sort of thing happens to all humorists sooner or later."
"Not to me it doesn't!" I shot back testily.
She put her arm around me and smiled. "It's okay. Really. It was still funny for me. You'll get it right next time. Don't be so tough on yourself."
I've had a few days to ponder all of this. I suppose my wife is right. Things could be worse. When it comes right down to it: I'd much rather be premature with a punch line than unable to get a laugh at all.
6:40:05 PM 
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