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ALBERT B. CASUGA, a Philippine-born writer, lives in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, where he continues to write poetry, fiction, and criticism after his retirement from teaching and serving as an elected member of his region's school board. He was nominated to the Mississauga Arts Council Literary Awards in 2007. A graduate of the Royal and Pontifical University of St. Thomas (now University of Santo Tomas, Manila. Literature and English, magna cum laude), he taught English and Literature (Criticism, Theory, and Creative Writing) at the Philippines' De La Salle University and San Beda College. He has authored books of poetry, short stories, literary theory and criticism. He has won awards for his works in Canada, the U.S.A., and the Philippines. His latest work, A Theory of Echoes and Other Poems was published February 2009 by the University of Santo Tomas Publishing House. His fiction and poetry were published by online literary journals Asia Writes and Coastal Poems recently. He was a Fellow at the 1972 Silliman University Writers Workshop, Philippines. As a journalist, he worked with the United Press International and wrote an art column for the defunct Philippines Herald.

Monday, April 22, 2013

THE BIG QUESTIONS, 29: HAPPINESS GRAFFITI (WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE US HAPPY? WHY WORRY/ BE HAPPY.)

This is Poetry #29  in  my series of poem responses to the Big Questions to mark National Poetry Month (NaPoMo April 2013) What can make us Happy? Why do we need to be happy? Can one be happy without being free"to dream the impossible dream?"



HAPPINESS GRAFFITI
 

“Sleep then work/work then sleep/I am free.” ---Graffiti on Wal-Mart’s Wall


Must have been a dead-beat father,
Must have been a cheating mother,
Must have been their runaway kid,
Must have been a homeless tramp:

Who would scrawl a happy graffiti
Like that? A stock boy at Wal Mart?
His mom who just quit and found
A lover working nights, asleep days?

Or his sleep-deprived old man gone
Berserk with new found freedom
Having been thrown out of wedlock
And mocked as sans prowess in bed?

Is this all they need to be happy?
Work then sleep. Sleep then work.
I am free. A new union mantra? Are
You happy? But are they really free?

---ALBERT B. CASUGA

 
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