Is happiness bad for poetry
Will the words dry up disappear
How do I find emotion empathy
When my world’s not falling apart

Sadness despair anger
Madness frustration hate
More potent than
Joy contentment bliss

Darkness propels us to action
Revenge destroy change
Sometimes ourselves
What does happiness do

What if Cobain or Morrison
Were happy well-adjusted
What if Plath and Woolf
Chose paths of light and love

Should I beware the flowers
Shun the compliments
Can a kiss destroy creativity
Will joy derail the muse

I do not aspire to greatness
Or expect fortune and glory
But words fill up my soul
With their own secret power

Must I trade that for the
Ordinary happiness of life