Inspired by the poem, “Joy Chose You” by Donna Ashworth

By O. Deng, TIWP Student

Joy doesn’t care if you’re sad, hungry, tired, or ugly. She’s like a small explosive at the back of your head, that you sometimes forget about but when the time is right she bursts, leaving you wondering how long the high will last before you crash again. For some people, joy is like an elephant, taking up half of your brain because their lives are abundant. For others, she’s like a drop of water on the hot concrete that has already started drying up. But she doesn’t care. Joy never cares about how much space she occupies in someone’s mind because she knows how much people want her. They look for her in every smile, in every monthly paycheck, and even in drugs. Sure, maybe they find her for a minute, maybe even for an hour, but she always leaves. They chase after her and beg her to stay, just a little longer, but she doesn’t listen. She never does. She just doesn’t care. It’s the people who understand joy that feel her the most. They understand that yes, she comes but she will leave twice as fast. They understand that yes, she is worth waiting for, but waiting will not make her come. It’s easy to forget her entirely, to forget the way she used to dance in every fold of your brain. After all, she hasn’t paid you a visit in so long, and you wonder if she will even come back at all. Some people stop waiting. Why should they keep waiting? Joy, you made people think you were coming back, but you never did.