Joy: The Anecdote For The Blues
This thing called joy
Scarce commodity, some of these days
Other days more plentiful than tree frogs
After the summer downpour
Singing their hight-pitched song
Harmonizing
All wet, wild and wonky
While the steam rises from the pavement
Perhaps we learn best when we go
Creeping through life
That joy is a by-product of slow walking
Slow talking
Pedaling places and savoring sentences
Scavenging for joy
In a world full of pain
Seeking beauty in the slower pace
Downshifting to meander
Instead of full throttle
Slow is a multiplier of joy
Some days
Quencher of thirst
Chaser of dark shadows and bad news
And evil doers
And what lurks underneath the bed
But joy fills in the cracks
Calks the gaping black hole places
Where the dull and dark
Need light and love
I know a story or two
About sadness and pain
You do too
I re-tell them, wear them out
On rewind
But I know some stories of miracle
And surprise
Of overflowing joy explosions
Like a whole box of Hot Tamales
At a buck a box
Poured into your mouth, in the best
Movie you ever have seen
I think if we spill it
Like sticky Coke on that movie floor
The sweet joy might
Just grab on to someone else
Lord knows the pain is deep
So spill that uncontainable joy
Share your news of good, great and excellent
The by-products of your prayer
The miracles in your life
Whisper it in humility
Or shout it shrill, roller-coaster ride loud
Hollering at the top of your lungs
Cause Lord knows we need
To wash that pain away
Like an ice cold sweet tea washes down
BBQ smothered in liquid heat
Wash me in your joy
Spill it out on me
And catch the happy tears I weep
Tomorrow may bring
A new flavor of pain
Share in my joy and I’ll share in yours
Remind me when the ebony clouds roll in
That Joy will come
In the morning, or the day after
Tomorrow’s morning
Remind me, soul
And re-tell the good, good news
You just lived
Joy is the anecdote
For the blues
Color me
In every shade
Of joy
++++++++++++
elizabeth w. marshall 
Beautiful! I am glad to have happened by today.. for the bit of grace, the sharing of joy, the interweaving of faith-souls that happens when God ordains a visit for the purpose of the lifting! Wisely written words full of wealth and wonder. (I had to get my alliteration in there as your poem inspired the tropes in my heart.) 🙂
Blessings to you!
Dawn
beautiful. love it
“slow is a multiplier of joy” <– that there is so very true.
thanks for teaching and reminding through beauty.
“Slow is the multiplier of joy…joy fills in the cracks…” Oh, so much good here, friend, and the surprises of your metaphors — sticky movie theater treats and a whole box of Hot Tamales — what a great descriptor of the explosive, spicy nature of joy!!