“Happiness”

Kenyon, Jane. “Happiness.” Otherwise New & Selected Poems. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 1997.

I have been listening to Natalie Merchant a lot lately. No. I take that back. I have been watching her more. Every night while I walk the training miles and miles on my treadmill I watch old video clips; those Quick!NatalieMerchantIsOnTelevision moments. Anytime she was on VH1 or Mtv promoting a song someone pressed the record button and I benefited from their fast fingers. Last night I watched Natalie explain the meaning behind her song “Kind and Generous.” (Some people call it the Thank You Song.) She explained it as “simple and to the point. Everyone knows what I am talking about.”
I feel that way about Jane Kenyon’s poetry. Kenyon has a way of expressing herself through her poetry in the most natural of ways. Her language is simple, to the point, and everyone knows what she is talking about.
In “Happiness” the message is just as clear. Happiness can find you whether you expect it to or want it to. Happiness can startle you out of an otherwise typical moment. Happiness should not be taken for granted or ignored.

Author Fact: When I first found out Jane Kenyon died before her 50th birthday I instantly thought it must have been cancer. Indeed, she died of leukemia in April 1995 at the age of 47.

Book Trivia: Jane Kenyon was in the process of editing Otherwise New and Selected Poems when she passed away. It was published a few months after her death.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “Poetry Pleasers” (p 189).