The Octopus of Happiness

is easing over you, constricting

and unfurling, dimming and

brightening again. You’re beneath

its mammoth umbrella, rising

between the twinkling lights

running along its rippling tentacles.

You miss your freedom even if

the outside’s dark and infested

with plastics, sharks, and riptides.

Living life as a captive, even to

happiness, is tragic, but now

you don’t dare, nor want, to leave.

The Speed of Joy

The Venus flytrap, a pair

of lobes clamped shut,

shivering in wind

that turns into rain

in a blink,

opens up,

whereupon a bee

lifts wings

and zings out.