after Eduardo C. Corral
What did you do with hunger?
Did you turn it into fear?
What do you weigh today?
And why.
Why can’t you sleep at night?
What are you jumpy about?
We’ve talked about this.
Are you wanted? For how long?
How long have we got?
When were you going to tell me?
Tell me where it hurts. Please.
What did you do with desire?
Did you turn it into hunger?
____
Karen Huang writes about the inconvenience of living in a body.
Spent most of yesterday trawling OPEN LETTERS TO PEOPLE OR ENTITIES WHO ARE UNLIKELY TO RESPOND.
Looking for short ones.
Toothbrush
Funny ones
Catcall shamers
Karaoke
To sleep
I know we’ve had some ups and downs over the years, and I accept responsibility for my part in it. I didn’t “get” you at first. I was cranky, a brat. I cried a lot, threw tantrums, refused to go to bed. I didn’t know how important you were. In my defense, I was also teething.
.
.
.
I have given in to all your demands: I no longer consume caffeine. I bought a fancy new memory foam mattress (the one advertised on NPR). I take melatonin (and valerian root, glycine, ginkgo biloba, L-theanine, kava, and tart cherry juice). I grow lavender and make DIY lavender oil to spritz on my face. I sneak into my neighbor’s apartment to take a relaxing bath since I only have a shower.I downloaded all the meditation apps and rotate through them nightly while doing breathing exercises and counting backward. I eliminated blue light from all my screens. I even banished the color blue from my life, except for the sky, but I try not to look up much.
I know routine is important to you. I go to bed at the same time every night, even if I have company. I tell them to enjoy themselves, there’s vodka in the freezer, and I go to bed because that’s what we agreed on.
I rub magnesium oil on the soles of my feet and leave a slimy trail on my way to the bathroom. I keep my bedroom cool. So cool that my dog has to wear her coat to sleep in it. And dark. So dark that I step on my dog every time I get up.I use a blanket that’s weighted, very weighted. To get up, I have to shimmy my way out sideways and roll onto the floor. I do all of this for you and I wait. And wait. But you don’t show up. And when you do, you’re always late and you never stay. Is there an emergency slumber party somewhere? Is it someone else?
Looking to notice when exactly the joke lands.
Improv: This one has good escalation.
Not an open letter:
Egg Mayo Sandwich
Em dash
Times New Roman
En dash
Utilize: Punchline really lands.
NYT paywall
Overhead at Starbucks on a Friday afternoon.
https://julievick.substack.com/p/humor-writing-resources
https://caitlinkunkel.com/teachingandspeaking
https://www.elissabassist.com/classes
https://www.sarahgarfinkelwriting.com
https://lukevburns.tumblr.com/Coaching
https://www.secondcity.com/classes/chicago/online-classes
Mine Your Life for Funny Ideas Generative Zoom Seminar with Caitlin Kunkel on Saturday, June 6th, 2026
https://www.brentforrester.com
https://www.writersatwork.com.sg
https://www.improv.sg
https://tetw.org/
https://genius.com/Nora-ephron-a-few-words-about-breasts-annotated
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/22/the-nora-ephron-we-forget
Unfortunately, after Ephron moved to Manhattan, in 1962, she discovered that she was far from the only lady at the table to have a “Dorothy Parker problem.” Every woman with a typewriter and an inflated sense of confidence believed that she was going to be crowned the next Miss One-Liner. To make matters worse, once Ephron started reading deep into Parker’s work, she found much of it to be corny and maudlin and, to use Ephron’s withering words, “so embarrassing.” Reluctantly, she let her childhood hero go. “Before one looked too hard at it,” Ephron wrote, “it was a lovely myth.”
Jesus Shaves by David Sedaris
Ashamed to say that I’m discovering David Sedaris this late.
Maybe it’s because I prefer listening to reading these days.
Santaland, The Squirrel and Chipmunk, 6 to 8 Black Men, Me Talk Pretty One Day are all good.
Jesus Shaves though, is laugh out loud funny. The last line is just… mic drop.
