The Future of Entertainment

[Lightning Rod]

Had I not been a poet, I would have likely been a preacher. All branches of show business have certain things in common. Religious services are certainly theater.and in many cases burlesque.

We had the sad occasion last week of attending a funeral. A young family member had died in a car accident. I'm not big on funerals. I have only attended several in my life. This one was particularly touching because it was mainly composed of testimonials from friends and family of the deceased. It was very effective theater; there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

It's sad when anyone dies, especially a young person. Not so much for them as for the ones left behind to ponder their own mortality. The dead are well taken care of, by god or oblivion. It's the living that must cope with the experience through ritual and familial support.

The whole funeral experience set me to thinking. I have spent long years as a poet and a comedian and a musician. These are all, in the final analysis, entertainment. As the entertainer, you are trying to make the audience happy. Funerals are entertainment too. But it's a different kind of entertainment. Tragedy rather than comedy. The entertainers (funeral directors, florists, singers and preachers etc.) are trying to make the audience cry rather than laugh.

It's strong as an electric guitar, the specter of death. I'm thinking of becoming a funeral director. It's the future of theater. We are all guaranteed to go. Unlimited box office. Yes, I've been in the wrong business all these years. I should be trying to make people cry rather than trying to make them laugh. It's much easier.

[Doreen Peri]

The entertainers (funeral directors, florists, singers and preachers etc.) are trying to make the audience cry rather than laugh.

I totally disagree.

It's not entertainment at all.

The people are already crying.

There is no need to make them cry.

The purpose is to comfort them.

[Lightning Rod]

crying IS the comfort

[Doreen Peri]

It can be.

But by the time of the funeral service, people have already been crying for days.

The purpose of the ritual is to soothe and bring comfort to those who lost someone they loved to death.

The purpose is also to honor the life of the person who died.

It is in no way, shape or form entertainment.

[Lightning Rod]

1. don't sweat the small things
2. they are all small things

3. all things are entertainment, even death.

[Doreen Peri]

This is the longest internet conversation we've had in a couple of years.

Thanks!

I'll go with 1 & 2, but even in "All That Jazz," death wasn't entertaining, no matter how hard they tried.

[Lightning Rod]

why would we have internet conversations?
our computers are ten feet apart
and my heart is wedded with yours
count our blessings
one
two
three

"It's SWOWTIME!"

[Doreen Peri]

Did you ask that when we wrote
over 100 poetic conversations?

No?
Why not?
Was it showtime then?

Your turn, mine, yours, mine,
weaving a fabric of lines.

Why, indeed.

I saw purpose to each image,
each metaphor, each noun.
We are ten feet apart.
Words written can be more
than sound.