"MALENA MÖRLING's poems are low-key, minimalist, utterly unpretentious
and yet—how does she do it?—they speak about the central conditions of our lives
as few poems do.”
—Ed Ochester
Happiness
How far away is your happiness?
How many
inches?
How many yards?
How many
bus rides to work
and back?
How many
doorways
and stairwells?
How many
hours
awake in the dark
belly of
the night
which contains
all the
world’s bedrooms,
all dollhouse-sized?
How far
away is your happiness?
How many words?
How many
thoughts?
How much pavement?
How much
thread
in the enormous sewing machine
of the
present moment?
“Happiness” from American Poetry Now (edited by Ed Ochester)
$27.95 • 408 pp.
© 2007 University of Pittsburgh Press
American Poetry Now features poems by Malena Mörling and
many others from the Pitt Poetry Series.