The Use of Black Comedy in the Poetry Collection Fill in the Past Blanks by Anmar Mardan

Abstract

The theme of wielding black comedy in the poetry collection Fill in the Past by Anmar Mardan concentrated on deconstructing the poetic structure as a field of conflict between language and experience, and between the self and reality. It does not invest comedy in these texts as a means of entertainment, but rather reshapes it as a critical tool that reveals the distortions of reality and confronts the reader with the cruelty of meaning, in addition to deciphering how to invest this type of comedy to reveal the contradictions of reality and expose its absurdity. This is achieved through addressing black comedy and the absurdity of poetic imagery. The poet reveals the fragility of meaning in a troubled reality through poetic imagery based on sarcasm and black irony, employing linguistic paradoxes and unexpected structures to reflect existential absurdity and futility. This study also attempts to present black comedy as a defense mechanism in the face of the discourse of violence, where the poet employs sarcasm as a strategic means of psychological and social resistance that exposes symbolic and material violence, transforming pain into a sarcastic discourse that allows for spaces for critique and survival.