< in the pursuit of happiness >

[rayheinrich]

     

        < in the pursuit of happiness >

So this guy comes up to me after the reading and asks
what did my poem mean and I ask which one and he
says it's the one with the mountain in it and I say
that none of the poems I read has a mountain in it
and he says well maybe that's why he doesn't understand
it and I try to be polite because he was one of the
five people who stayed for the whole damn thing and
nobody bought my damned chapbook but I give him a
signed copy and write 'mountain' at the end of the
last poem in the book and he grins and thanks me
and asks me if he can buy me a cup of coffee and I
feel elated like it's all been worthwhile even though
I'm thinking at the same time how pathetically needy
I am to feel this way and I drink my coffee and we talk
about the life insurance he'd like to sell me and I
drink my coffee and I feel ashamed that I feel elated
but I still feel elated.

                    - - -

[Wildcard]

I relate to the misguided sense of self-worth you are hammering out but I found the format distracting and the line-breaks very odd.

Thanks for sharing

[billy]

sad yet funny

[5th Flow Boy]

     

        < in the pursuit of happiness >

So this guy comes up to me after the reading and asks
what did my poem mean and I ask which one and he
says it's the one with the mountain in it and I say
that none of the poems I read had a mountain in it
and he says well maybe that's why he didn't understand
it and I try to be polite because he was one of the
five people who stayed for the whole damn thing and
nobody bought my damned chapbook but I give him a
signed copy with a handwritten line added to the last
poem that has a mountain in it and he grins at me and
thanks me and asks me if he can buy me a cup of coffee
and I feel elated like it's all been worth it while
thinking at the same time how pathetically needy I am
to feel this way and I drink my coffee and we talk
about the life insurance he'd like to sell me and
I drink my coffee and I feel ashamed that I feel
elated but I still feel elated.

                    - - -

Ok, I'm new to this. So I am unsure if this was a poem representation or a story of a poets experience. Assuming the first, it's very personal and is a clear representation of the poetry community. Assuming the latter. lol I know the feeling

[rayheinrich]

Ok, I'm new to this. So I am unsure if this was a poem representation or a story of a poets experience. Assuming the first, it's very personal and is a clear representation of the poetry community. Assuming the latter. lol I know the feeling

Both. The insurance salesman was real and he knew his poetry, especially T.S. Eliot.

[Brownlie]

     

        < in the pursuit of happiness >

So this guy comes up to me after the reading and asks
what did my poem mean and I ask which one and he
says it's the one with the mountain in it and I say
that none of the poems I read had a mountain in it
and he says well maybe that's why he didn't understand
it and I try to be polite because he was one of the
five people who stayed for the whole damn thing and
nobody bought my damned chapbook but I give him a
signed copy with a handwritten line added to the last
poem that has a mountain in it and he grins at me and
thanks me and asks me if he can buy me a cup of coffee
and I feel elated like it's all been worth it while
thinking at the same time how pathetically needy I am
to feel this way and I drink my coffee and we talk
about the life insurance he'd like to sell me and
I drink my coffee and I feel ashamed that I feel
elated but I still feel elated.

                    - - -

From had a mountain to has a mountain

[rayheinrich]

oops, see below

[rayheinrich]

From had a mountain to has a mountain

Ah yes, you're right, it had a 'had'
but thanks to your keen sense of tense
it has a 'has' from this time hence.