Happiness is a poem I wrote during the middle part of the pandemic last year to express the joy I did feel and the joy I wanted to create. Despite the job losses and loved ones I lost, I still had things to be grateful for, and I felt it necessary to acknowledge that.
It is important to me to highlight and validate the full spectrum of my emotions whether they are good, bad, or indifferent. What better way to acknowledge the joy I felt while also experiencing painful times than with a poem. I wrote this poem to encourage myself that there is still joy around me I needed to lean into.
The purpose of this poem is to inspire us to hold on to whatever happiness we have right in front of us, and to remind people of how deserving we are of feeling joyful even while we grieve. I want this piece to be a constant catalyst for hope. People, especially community workers, often feel guilty for experiencing rest and play while there is so much destruction happening in the world. This was my way of letting them (and myself) know happiness is our birth right and we get to experience that in the ways WE choose. I want this piece to be a constant reminder of how important it is to lean on the little pieces of light in our lives, and allow those moments to take us through the darkness.
Richland Library Artist-in-Residence Tammaka Staley performs her poem Happiness.
Happiness, A Poem
By Tammaka Staley
People always ask me why I never write happy poems.
While I usually do not give an answer, a voice beats in my head
like a 90s track, “Its hard to write happy poems when there’s nothing happy to write about!”
Today I sing a different tune.
I speak up for every artist who rarely has responses to the question
on repeat in open mic spaces.
Today I recite a happy poem,
become a happy poem.
a piece where every element is just as intentional as its author.
A piece where I finally get to be the main character
dress myself in 6 inch stilettos with the word “free” across my chest
I create stories where Black womxn get to name themselves
The plot takes place in my kitchen
sunshine-colored walls
a counter wide enough to prepare a feast
Sissy Nobby playing in the background
My shoulders, sweeping the ceiling
each one bouncing in isolation
I am feeding my soul all it needs to thrive
giving myself and my community reminders of what testimony feels like
I worship this sacred dance
One that carried us through the smog
all masks and mayhem
this arched back ritual has been a saving grace when there was none.
I feel the spirits of ancestors with each hip thrust
in awe at the rise and swoon of my pelvis
the way it greets every corner of a room in rotation
Happiness is a song I cannot stop grooving to
the rhythm of tongues when it is spoken into existence
our mouths are books of prayers forming
a declaration
a written miracle
this happy poem is an alternate world coming to fruition
A world where twerking is synonymous to liberation
shame ain’t got no moves in this battle
happiness is autonomy personified.
It is the alchemy in our bones keeping hope alive
the essential workers who made it possible for us to breath
affirmations healing generational wounds.
It is the way teachers turn computer screens into classrooms
children bared burdens of isolation and still found
ways to mold scholarship out of sorrow.
Every day I watch my world on fire yet choose to be the sun
happiness does not always show up as laughter.
sometimes it is simply the art of survival and that, too, is enough.
Joy is a skill I’m still learning how to get good at so let us treat gratitude like sports
smile like stadium lights and hold unto happiness like Scorpios hold grudges.
everybody knows there aint nothin’ tighter than that.
Tammaka Staley is one of Richland Library's 2021 Artists-in-Residence and is an accomplished poet, educator and performance artist. She is a native of Columbia, SC and runs a performance art and speaking brand called Talks with Tammaka. She is also the Founder and Executive Director of Youth Affirming Sex Education (YASÉ), LLC.
