This is a poem from my new collection, Yay, published by Burning Eye Books. You can order your copy right here: https://robertgarnham.bigcartel.com/product/yay-book
Happy
I can hardly describe it.
Often I get these moments
In which I’m able to stand back and
Look at my life as if from
A different vantage point,
And consider my journey
As a unified whole.
Boom, there it is,
I’m happy.
It’s almost sickening.
Take my friend Mark.
They say, well,
He’s only happy when he’s got something to moan about.
Well, he is!
You should see him!
You should see his little face!
Having a good old moan
Really makes his day.
And that also makes me happy.
And then there’s my friend Shane.
He’s always happy.
He looks like a grin
With a person attached.
I say to him, you alright?
And he says, yeah, I’m alright,
You alright?
And I’ll say yeah, I’m alright,
And he’ll say,
I’m alright if you’re alright,
And I’ll say, alright,
Because neither of us are big conversationalists,
But he’s alright, is Shane,
And he’s happy.
My favourite anecdote
A glum theatre stage,
A set designer stands there
Having just decorated the scene,
Stands there with that gloom merchant
Crinkle faced Mr Intensity Samuel Beckett,
Turns to this existentialist deep thinker and asks,
Happy?
It’s a fluffy puffy feeling
It’s incredibly appealing
It’s like a lack of gravity
That puts you on the ceiling.
It’s a bouncy flouncy skip and hop
That makes your heart just flip and pop
Smooth as silk and warm like tea
And sweeter than a lollipop
Oh my,
Listen to me!
I’m not the sort to rise right up
And suddenly clap my hands.
I hope you understand
Cos this feeling
Is more a state of being
Than the status of this man.
Before you here I stand,
A soul enmeshed in mirth
And it’s been a constant feeling
From the moment of my birth
That every day
When I wake I say
Yay.
Robert Garnham 