Wreaking Happiness Goes Love:
See you, wouldn’t want to be you?
By Peter J. Harris
WREAKING Happiness?
“Can an hombre be feliz until he’s six feet under?”
asks Luis Alfaro, in “Oedipus El Rey.”
Wreaking HAPPINESS?
“….Is it something I said?”
asked Richard Pryor from the pyre to an LP-cover lynch mob!
How to even conceive of wreaking happiness?
With tomahawks flying?
With moab pulverizing an already pulverized landscape?
With trumpcare abusing the idea of healthcare?
With the Newspeak of 1984 sounding like nursery rhymes?
Wreak happiness amidst havoc?
Wreak happiness amidst havoc!
When and where Apocalypse looms,
we must become Apocalypsonians!
Exit onto Grooved Pavement Ahead.
Claim & witness life-affirming textures.
See humanity in all the right places.
Ask daring questions
How can you measure the velocity of your joy?
What’s the technology of your happiness?
What does happiness smell like on your skin? Where within our society is my happiness reflected? Who wants me to be happy? Who looks out for my happiness? What is my history of happiness? Where is my country of joy? What is the culture of my joy? What is the spirit of my joy? What is the first draft of my State of the Union speech about happiness? How would I describe happiness in letters to my future and historical selves? What is the introduction to the Autobiography of My Happiness? What proverb contains my message about happiness? What wisdom about happiness do I want to pass on to my children? How happy was I as a child? What new patterns of happiness will I create for the future? How hard am I working to be happy? How much is happiness worth? What will I live for? Who will I live for? What is my birthright to happiness? What is my birthright as a human being? What is the sound of the first thing, the second thing, if the first thing out my mouth says to listeners: you are a miracle wrapped up in human flesh? Where do I go inside myself to invite happiness to come back here?
When does the season of celebration start?
BONUS EXCERPT from my book, Black Man of Happiness: In Pursuit of My ‘Unalienable Right’ — “Neither a spell nor a book will stop the bullets fired by rogue cops, Stand Your Ground vigilantes, gang bangers, or men gripped in the passion play of violence. No sorcery, no book can block society’s virulent, visceral historical flow of venom against Black men. But a spell, a book (a pulse, a fever, a totem, an intelligence, a quest – a good read!) can help generate a restorative and rejuvenating field of energy, spark new insights, start a cascade of ah ha moments, and expand our thinking beyond least common denominator. Safety first, yes, and safety for all, yes, but yes yes yes to sizzling with a Love Supreme! Flooding the ecosphere with healthier, more expansive, definitions of masculinity. Deepening meditations on our manhood. Translating the spiritual codebook into sidewalk practices for African American men and for those who work for our safety, sanity, opportunity, and fulfillment…” www.blackmanofhappiness.com/shop
