A Poem of Leah Questioning Happiness

by dale booton, after dennis kelly's DNA

there are all these moments you know like when the sun is

bright and the birds are chirping and smiles are all around no

global warming and frowns oh Phil do you remember what

it was like to be happy like actually happy have you ever

been actually happy I wish I was a wave swishing and

swooshing endlessly over the softness of some foreign beach

never ceasing just carrying on I’d like to carry on for eternity

if possible but then that isn’t it is it Phil that isn’t the point

of life we aren’t supposed to enjoy it all we just enjoy bits

like the bits of a yoghurt you like the yoghurts with the bits

in don’t you just all those little bits in that huge yoghurt

that’s like happiness tiny bits in a huge pot of life hold onto

them Phil those yoghurts with the bits are going out of stock

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Dale Booton (he/him) is a gay poet from Birmingham. His poetry has been published in various places, such as Verve, Young Poets Network, Queerlings, The North, and Muswell Press; and poems forthcoming with South Bank Poetry and Magma. He recently hosted the Young Poets Takeover at Verve Poetry Festival. Twitter: @BootsPoetry