Posted on by Sonia Dogra

How to Grow Happiness

Dear Readers,

The more I grow in years, the more I feel the desire to live anonymously. Which is strange, considering the choices I have made that wouldn’t allow me to disappear into anonymity. I think when life unfurls untold and unseen, it brings along a joy that all of the world’s humdrum cannot dismiss. With this thought in mind, I write today’s poem, which is inspired by Namratha’s Substack post on the ‘How To’ Poem. You may read it here.

I have already written an instructional poem, which later turned into flash fiction and was published on Flash Flood Day this year. Titled ‘Submission Recipe for a Woman/Wife/Mother’, it is a lethal instructional guide on how to ignore daily chores when the muse calls.

This time, I am gentler. Please let me know what you think of it.

HOW TO GROW HAPPINESS

If you have a backyard, you’re good to go. If not,
terracotta will do. At my grandmother’s,
cherry tomatoes sprung up in second-life planters.
Junkyard jewels are steady like old friends.

Strum a serenade with hands bare,
cuddle the earth. Weave a sweet symphony
with flecks of dirt on sweaty palms. At the farmer’s,
that’s the way lifelines grow.

Make periwinkles in a fleeting world,
through spring and summer, autumn and winter
cover your grounds.

When you’re done, don’t bother the flowers
with fanfare, for in anonymity

they’ll be set free.

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11 Replies to “How to Grow Happiness”

  5. I love how the poem isn’t instructional directly, but gives you the space to consider that what the poem says is true. Your alliterations have achieved a new level here. ‘Junkyard jewels’ is a gem! (Pun intended)

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