Writing About Joy Without Writing a Sappy Poem

Joy is the hardest subject in poetry to get right because it is the easiest to be sappy about. A judge on the three moves that turn a joy poem into a real one, the test that tells you if the poem is about the joy or about you, and the one image that always works.

Joy is the hardest subject in poetry to get right, harder than grief, harder than loss, harder than any of the big subjects that everyone writes about. The reason is simple: joy is the thing that everyone wants, and the thing that everyone wants is the thing that everyone writes about, and the result is a pile of poems that are all trying to be happy at the same time.

The joy poem that works is not about the joy. It is about the person who is feeling it.

The sappy trap

The sappy poem is the one that tells you how good the joy felt. The happiness, the gratitude, the love, the way the world is beautiful. It is accurate and it is flat, because the joy is the subject and the subject is the one thing the reader can feel for themselves.

A poem about joy should not describe the joy. It should describe what the joy did to the person who is feeling it.

The three moves that turn a joy poem into a real one

Move one: put a person in it. The joy poem that works has a person in it, a lover, a child, a self. The joy is the stage; the person is the play. The poem is about the person in the joy, not the joy itself.

Move two: give the joy a body. The joy should be doing something to the body, the hands that are shaking, the voice that is breaking, the eyes that are wet because the crying is happy. If the joy is just sitting there, it is a backdrop. If it is doing something to the body, it is a subject.

Move three: let the joy change you. The best joy poems are the ones where the speaker is different at the end than they were at the beginning, and the joy is the thing that changed them. The joy is the agent; the poem is the change.

The question that decides

Here is the question I ask when I am judging a joy poem: is this poem about the joy, or is it about the person in the joy? If the answer is the joy, it is a sappy poem. If the answer is the person, it is a poem.

The sappy poem says 'this is how good it felt'. The real joy poem says 'this is what the joy did to me'. The difference is the difference between a greeting card and a life.

A worked example

Bad: 'I am so happy and the world is beautiful and I am grateful for everything.' The joy is the subject; the speaker is absent.

Better: 'I have learned to laugh at my own joke before I finish it, the way my daughter does, and I have become the person who laughs at the things she would laugh at.' The joy is the agent; the speaker is the person who is changed by it. The poem is about the person who has been changed by the joy, not the joy itself.

Where it goes wrong

The trap is the poem that is a celebration of the joy. The celebration is not a poem; it is a thank-you note. The poem is the thing that the joy did to the person who was in it, and the doing is the work.

If you want to see a joy poem that is about the person, the prompts library has a set on gratitude and the self, and the contest window is open when the draft is ready. The joy is the stage. The person is the play.

Keep reading

For the craft side, the happiness collection covers the deeper method. The imagery module is the page to read next, and the contest is where the work goes when it is done.

By Writory Editorial, for Writory.

Keep reading in the Writory Library

Enter a Writory poetry contest