A review by percystjoan
Trances of the Blast by Mary Ruefle

5.0

first foray into mary ruefle's poetry after loving her nonfiction prose, and this might even be better? she has such a magical way with words, i would recommend anyone read this.

the art of happiness

i am too weak to speak,
that is why i am writing this-
will you please bring me some water?
i cannot make the few feet to the sink,
the art of happiness prevents me.
when you bring me the water
make sure it is held in a glass.
water would rather be held by a glass
than be in a stream on its way to the ocean.
that is the art of happiness.
alas it will one day leave the glass
but water would rather be held by the body
than be in a stream on its way to the ocean.
alas it will one day leave the body
but not to worry now.
that is the art of happiness.
when water enters us it becomes
delirious, it gets to push things out of its way,
it gets to form an opinion and then express it,
it gets to see what no one else has seen.
as you can see i am dying of happiness.
please ask the surgeon to come
and remove this day-
i don't want to die of happiness.
what's a glass of water to you?
what's a phone call or two?

[also: yeah. just the entire book.]