THE CONDITIONS
Feeling ornery enough, I try to remember
what the popular Buddhist monk claimed:
Conditions for Happiness he called them, or was it
Conditions of Happiness?
Everywhere all the time, he said, entrances
are within us—a breath, a pause, to begin to notice
the air, even a sideways rain, that sustains us;
the ground, even the choppy asphalt, that holds us—
the cardinals in the springtime with their near
continuous song waking us by 5 a.m., just because
they know no other way to be—
alive and ready to sing.
*
Andrea Potos is the author of seven full-length poetry collections, most recently Her Joy Becomes from Fernwood Press and Marrow of Summer from Kelsay Books. A new collection from Fernwood entitled Belonging Songs will be published in 2025. New poems are forthcoming in Women Artists’ Datebook 2025, The Healing Muse, Braided Way, Delta Poetry Review, Midwest Quarterly, and the Paterson Literary Review.
Very nice. What a peaceful way to begin our day.
TX, evie
gorgeous, Andrea, gorgeous. this poem is another one of those entrances …
Stunning ending. As usual, Andrea, you teach us how to go from the mundane to the sublime.