Poetry: Coconut

Coconut
–Paul Hostovsky
From Bird in the Hand

Bear with me I
want to tell you
some­thing about
happiness
it’s hard to get at
but the thing is
I was­n’t looking
I was looking
some­where else
when my son found it
in the fruit section
and came running
hold­ing it out
in his small hands
ask­ing me what
it was and could we
keep it it only
cost 99 cents
hairy and brown
hard as a rock
and some­thing swishing
around inside
and what on earth
and where on earth
and this was happiness
this lit­tle ball
of inter­est beating
inside his chest
this interestedness
beam­ing out
from his face pleading
happiness
and because I wasn’t
hap­py I said
to put it back
because I did­n’t want it
because we did­n’t need it
and because he was happy
he start­ed to cry
right there in aisle
five so when we
got home we
put it in the middle
of the kitchen table
and sat on either
side of it and began
to con­sid­er how
to get inside of it