Post #256651 by ikitnrev on Mon, Sep 25, 2006 12:06 AM

I have been subscribing to a daily e-mail from Garrison Keillor and the people of PBS, titled 'The Writer's Life' This poem was listed in today's e-mail, and I deemed it worthy to be passed on to the people of Tiki Central.

Vern

Poem: "Coconut" by Paul Hostovsky from Bird in the Hand.

Coconut

Bear with me I
want to tell you
something about
happiness
it's hard to get at
but the thing is
I wasn't looking
I was looking
somewhere else
when my son found it
in the fruit section
and came running
holding it out
in his small hands
asking me what
it was and could we
keep it it only
cost 99 cents
hairy and brown
hard as a rock
and something swishing
around inside
and what on earth
and where on earth
and this was happiness
this little ball
of interest beating
inside his chest
this interestedness
beaming out
from his face pleading
happiness
and because I wasn't
happy I said
to put it back
because I didn't want it
because we didn't need it
and because he was happy
he started to cry
right there in aisle
five so when we
got home we
put it in the middle
of the kitchen table
and sat on either
side of it and began
to consider how
to get inside of it