Happiness
Sarah Green
what is day — it’s a girl
sew marriage for the good maid
sugar in your pocket
for the bicycle horse
wood shavings and ironed shirts
picking up, and picking up, and picking up the children
and putputputting them down
you could say she makes honey
blanket of herbs and
wall of leaves
families picnic
she watches families picnic on TV
suns wear
yellow petal bonnets
tempt tender
telegrams
bridges carry pregnant possibility
water drowns
my garden is full
little dove
fade to blue
walls blue
bowls, blue bouquets
blue as my blue, blue robe
thoughts
don’t like sadness
happiness works by addition
desserts mustn’t be the same
nuclear families
in orange autumnal sweaters
nap in the leaves
and disappear
Sarah Green is a member of The Next Objectivists poetry collective and was a recipient of Shimer College’s Ruth Cooley Poetry Prize. She earned an MSW at The University of Chicago and currently works as a social worker doing community outreach to individuals struggling with mental illness.
