Resolutions: a poem by Mark James Trisko

image by Yolanda Díaz Tarragó, on Pixabay

Resolutions

“Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.”

                                                                                 Jeremiah 29:5

The search for happiness can seem

futile, fruitless

the struggle for a fugitive smile

that stays longer than a moment

instead, I hunt and comb

like the witless boar that I am

trying to root out that one true thing

that will make me happy

and I have no sense of what it is

it could be more of this

or more of that

or less of the pain that I endure

and I make my resolutions

and I change my life

my diet, my job, myself

all with the hope that the next me

will satisfy my expectations

match my self-portrait, my visualization

of the person I believe I should be

and bring me the happiness that I long for

happiness will never be found

in the influence that I follow

or in the empty stuff that I buy

that has no permanence, no gravity

I must discover that happiness

is not something that you

pursue, find, unwrap

it is something that you create

I will build a home, wherever I find my heart

and nurture my love there

I will find joy in the fruits of my labor

and make my garden grow

__________________________

Mark James Trisko has been writing poetry for a very long time, but after retiring recently,

he “heard his muses” yelling loudly in the night begging him to let their voices be heard.

His work is in, or scheduled to appear in, Valiant Scribe Literary Journal, Spirit Fire Review, and Amethyst Review. He currently lives in Minnesota, with his beautiful spouse of 47

years, four wonderful children, and eight above-normal grandchildren.

June 2025 issue