< in the pursuit of happiness >

[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