the Pusuit of Sadness

Do you ever feel the clenching of the throat
that pressure we hold back of something that could make us weep
and expose our sadness to the world.

And we live in a country that prides itself
on freeing it's citizens to pursue happiness, found in bags
lining shops, centering gatherings, and guiding politics

Yet we have forbidden sadness
and so it exists artificially around us, with war
finances, social mobility

we have forgotten true sadness
because we cannot let go of the clenching of joy
the joy that would burst out of us, and combust us

or the sadness that would free us.

Napkin Poetry

Ah yes, collaboration works best when everyone opens up to the potential of the work.