Road to happiness
Issue #95 of your inbox poetry magazine
The road to
happiness is never
a straight line and mostly hidden from
view. So, better enjoy
the journey.
In a conversation about my career with a manager, some years ago, I came to understand this important thing about life: you are on a path, but at every junction, you can change direction. It might sound a bit vague so far. But let’s take that career as an example. In our case, we were setting a mid-term ambition. A goal to work towards. On the path to that goal were different courses and training I could take to get to that goal. However, as my manager pointed out, as you learn something new in each course or training, your vision of where you want to be in the future may change. So, at that point, we see what that new goal is, and adjust our road map accordingly.
I believe the same thing is true for happiness. It is a goal in the future. Maybe in the near future. To get there, there are several steps you can take. But each step has the potential to change your view and your ambition. Sometimes happiness may seem far away, hidden even. But the journey there is a wonderful thing in itself. Enjoy it, and you will find happiness sooner than you think.
Have you seen our new section? In this new part of your inbox poetry magazine, you can follow a poet (me) as he explores the world of crypto with poetry. Read the first entry in this crypto poet’s guide to the metaverse, Hello, world! A genesis piece.
Something to listen to
In this second season of my podcast, I had the great pleasure of speaking with Samantha on the importance of inspiring teachers and community. Listen back:
Sunil, who has featured here before, recently shared a very inspiring post about the healing power of beauty. In it, he shared this poem. Listen:
For those who can’t stop listening to poetry, this week’s poem is available in the #trpplffct readings collection:
And of course, we have that eclectic playlist for you. June has a special ffct on us:
I’m trying something new here. I would love to understand what you, the reader, think of this inbox poetry magazine. I’ll start with asking you about the sections Something to listen to and Poetry elsewhere. Any additional feedback is always welcome in the comment section below.
Poetry elsewhere
Giving your children the confidence and power to not live by random rules set by random and anonymous strangers is challenging. But necessary. And even for adults, it’s not easy to break the rules, and be different. This lovely poem by David Cohen, AKA Doodleslice, is about that: Nonsense.
Bloomsday. Have you heard of it? It’s celebrated on 16 June which happens to be the day described in Ulysses, that notorious book by James Joyce. A book I still have to finish. That will be my summer challenge. One of the people celebrating Bloomsday is James Maynard, who writes great poems in his own substack newsletter. He also wrote a sonnet for Bloomsday: In liver gravy Bloom mashed mashed potatoes is.
The poems over at Poetry Trapper Keeper are always an eye-opener for me. Larissa & Kelly (who have also featured in 2 podcast chapters) have a skill and energy that I always feel impressed by. They have a talent to thread together what some people might call low-brow and high-brow culture. Whatever you call it, it’s poetry worth reading. Like this ekphrastic rude of you to show up here!