the-happy-family
RECONSTRUCTED HAPPINESS
a found poem in reverse of Ferlinghetti’s “I Am Waiting”
by Trish Hopkinson

I am fleeing.
Perpetually,
I am my typewriter.
I am green.
I am my childhood.
I am wonder.

I am the dream
of innocence in Wonderland
and I am Tom Sawyer
and I am birth, music, sound
and I am reconstructed
happiness, the storms of life
and eternal life discovered.
I am anxiously new.

I am like rain
and I am the earth
and I am salvation waiting
to be called.
I am perpetually new again.
I am the channel.
Really, I am.
I am the state of revival,
a birth of wonder—
perpetually, I am.

I am anarchy.
I am waiting to up and fly.
I am a new discovery.
I wail.
I am someone
and I am,
I am waiting.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: “Reconstructed Happiness” is a new poem written specifically for this series. I wanted to delve into “I am Waiting” with the careful reading that writing found poetry provides. The repetition in the poem presented a challenge in creating something new enough to become a found poem able to stand on its own, so I reversed the order of the lines for a different approach. The last line became the first, and all other lines followed until the first line became the last. Something unique emerged as I erased phrases and words–a poem with the theme of not becoming something new, but rather being something new. A reconstructed happiness of sorts arose from an original work expressing a tone of dissatisfaction.

IMAGE: “The Happy Family” by Pablo Picasso (1917).

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Trish Hopkinson has always loved words—in fact, her mother tells everyone she was born with a pen in her hand. She has been published in several anthologies and journals, including The Found Poetry Review, Chagrin River Review, and Reconnaissance Magazine.She is a project manager by profession and resides in Utah with her handsome husband and their two outstanding children. You can follow her poetry adventures at trishhopkinson.com or on Facebook.