Summer 2024

Happiness

By Ann Iverson

I 
a man in a plaid woolen shirt
a cigar in his mouth
a chainsaw in his hand
a black lab at his heels. 

II 
a black lab in a black fur coat 
with a branch in his mouth 
following a man 
in a plaid woolen shirt. 

III 
a woman looking on from the window 
with a shawl over her shoulders
a poem in her mouth 
a field away from happiness 
taking fodder from the view. 

About the Author


Ann Iverson is a writer and artist. She is the author of  five poetry collections: Come Now to the Window by the Laurel Poetry Collective, Definite Space and Art Lessons by Holy Cow! Press; Mouth of Summer and No Feeling is Final by Kelsay Books. She is a graduate of both the MALS and the MFA programs at Hamline University. Her poems have appeared in a wide variety of journals and venues including six features on Writer’s Almanac. Her poem “Plenitude” was set to a choral arrangement by composer Kurt Knecht. She is also the author and illustrator of two children’s books. As a visual artist, she enjoys the integrated relationship between the visual image and the written image. Her art work has been featured in several art exhibits as well as in a permanent installation at the University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital. She is currently working on her sixth collection of poetry, a book of children’s verse, and a collection of personal essays.