Very Funny Poems About a Power Outage

Very funny poems here about the human condition caused me to write the Ode to the Electron (below). Have you ever noticed your behavior during a power failure? You still flip on lights, you continue to stick leftover pizza in the microwave, you try to run the dishwasher, check your email, and you are yet hopeful that the television will work. Engrams (a neural memory trace) are funny things! During a power outage, the only thing in your house that functions is the toilet (thank God)...and yet you persist pushing buttons and flipping switches.

We had such an event last night after a storm that sounded and looked like the Valkyries chasing the Four Horsemen. The next morning, there was not an electron to be found, and bereft of my beloved computer, and bored out of my gourd, I scribbled some verses with an actual writing implement on real paper. At hubby's urging, and just for fun, I submitted them to our city's major newspaper and minutes later, received a call from an editor asking for confirmation to publish.

The only thing better than having an editor call you (if you are a humorist) is having one who is still laughing call you.

Ray Cooklis, editor, writes:

"[...Ramirez] was among the Greater Cincinnati residents who lost power overnight Thursday, but she put the late-night inconvenience to good use: She wrote the following "Ode to the Electron" in the absence of electrical power. "I was reduced to a pencil and a notebook, and I'm a writer," Ramirez said. "I was surprised I still knew how to push one." Her power went off sometime after 1 a.m., but came back on, she says, between Stanza 6 and Stanza 8 of her poem, which follows."

Ode to the Electron

The power's out around these parts
Since one or two AM,
There was no coffee when I woke
To satisfy my yen.

I flipped the light switch anyway,
But it would not respond.
I put some water in to nuke
To find I'd need a wand.

At least the toilet flushes - good!
I bless the fertile mind
Inventing such a useful thing,
So simple, yet refined.

Peckish now, I went to heat
Inside the microwave
A morsel from last night's repast,
But it would not behave.

So this, perhaps, is just the time
To get on with my book,
But found my cpu to lack
Electrons that it took.

Ah, well, perhaps, to watch TV?
At least, I won't be bored,
But it would not cooperate
And balked in disaccord.

Reduced to simple pleasures, then,
I thought I'd take a bath,
But found the water far too cold,
- The outage aftermath.

So maybe I'll go back to bed,
Though night has come and gone,
And chalk this day up to the "cats."
Oh, look, the power's on!

So, when life hands you lemons, write funny poetry - or within moderation - twisted funny poems, amusing anecdotes, or if you can manage it, very funny poems, or possibly, iambic tetrameter - it's good for the soul.

You will find your humor is in fine fettle when you are frustrated (which reminds me that I wanted to write a page on alliteration and assonance, but I digress). Write your own very funny poems and shelve them in Bitter Dregs,

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