August is Happiness Happens Month, so I bring you some ways on how to make happiness happen with poems. By reading some, by writing some, sharing them, and by enjoying them all!!

This post contains Amazon and other affiliate links, that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support. Please see the full disclosure for more information. I only recommend products I definitely would (or have already) use myself

Poetic Sundays: How to Make Happiness Happen With Poems

First up: a few poems that can easily add to our happiness quotient—or better yet, help make happiness happen! Then, I bring you a simple writing activity to help you craft a joy-filled poem for yourself or a loved one.

So what does happiness look like to you? A cozy hug? A sun-drenched morning? A giggle fit—or maybe the smell of freshly baked cookies? As for me, it is family; the smile of my daughter, the piano notes my son plays across the room, a loved one’s voice on the other end of a phone call.

As you can see and already know, happiness doesn’t always need grand gestures—happiness happens so very often (or more often actually) in the little things. And how is it connected to poetry? Poetry can help us notice those little things; can help us pause and put words to them.

In today’s Poetic Sundays, I bring you poems that capture joy in its many forms and then show you how to write your own happiness using the list poem.

Let’s make happiness happen—together, in verse.

📝 A Hive of Happiness Happenings, aka Happy Poems

These poems invite smiles, spark warmth, and remind us that joy is often just a verse or two away.

📜Classic Poems About Happiness

William Wordsworth ends his beautiful poem I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud with the image of his “heart [filling] with pleasure and dancing with the daffodils.” In contrast, Delight in Disorder—a gem I recently stumbled upon to my own delight—features Robert Herrick joyfully celebrating the beauty found in imperfection and spontaneity. And then there’s the amazing Carl Sandburg, who, after seeking happiness among the learned, finds it instead in the simple, shared joys of ordinary life in his aptly titled poem Happiness.

🌼 Modern and Contemporary Poems

In her quiet and profound poem Happiness (like Sandburg’s), Jane Kenyon reminds us that “there’s just no accounting for happiness,” as it often arrives uninvited, tucked into life’s smallest, gentlest moments.

Meanwhile, Charles Bukowski brings us a recipe for making joy happen in The Laughing Heart, with the unforgettable reminder: “Your life is your life. Don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.”

I love Naomi Shihab Nye’s poetry, and So Much Happiness is no exception. It captures the sense of being almost overwhelmed by joy: “It is difficult to know what to do with so much happiness.”

In Happiness (Reconsidered), Judith Viorst offers a wry and witty take on happiness, which is at once relatable and humorous!

🐦 Short and Sweet

Though Hope is the Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson centers on hope, its light, lilting tone and resilient spirit fill my heart with both hope and happiness. That bird “that perches in the soul” and never stops singing—of course it’s going to make anyone happy, don’t you agree?

And I am wowed at how, in just a couple lines, Robert Louis Stevenson offers a timeless reminder of contentment’s simplicity:
“The world is so full of a number of things,
I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.”
Short, sweet, and brimming with childlike wonder and profound wisdom, it’s a happiness thought worth keeping close.

✍️ Tips on How to Write a Happiness List Poem

Happiness is personal, and poetry helps us shape it into something we can share. Try this easy, fun prompt to craft your own feel-good verse.

Let’s use the List Poem form! It’s perfect for capturing fleeting or simple sources of joy—especially for kids and beginners.

🎨 Form: List Poem

• Start each line or stanza with “Happiness is…,” “Happiness happens when…,” or a sensory phrase (e.g., “The sound of…”).
• No rhyming necessary (but you can rhyme if you’d like). Check out my list poem example in this previous post about the list poem.
• Let it be whimsical (my favorite way to be, I am thinking), honest, or surprising.

🎉 My Attempt at Showing how Happiness Happens

Happiness happens when
when a smile appears—
just when I need it—
lighting up a loved one’s face
and warming my heart with it.

Happiness happens when
when socks come out matching,
someone saves you the last cupcake,
and you remember all the lyrics (correctly!)

Happiness happens when
a stranger smiles for no reason,
the rain waits till you’re home,
and the a breeze carries a child’s laugh.

Happiness happens when
you’re seen,
you’re silly,
you’re safe.

And sometimes—
happiness just happens
because
it wants to.
~ Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

Recently

On My Blog and Home-front

• Books to Keep: A Chain of Wondrous Stories
• BEACH READS for Little Readers: Big Fun in Small Pages
• Sunday Scribblings #232: A Recipe Poem for Love, Life, Laughter, and More

The home-front – it has been a busy and quiet week all at the same time.

Upcoming

On My Blog and Home-front

Hope to get a couple of posts in this week though it is going to be a hectic one!

This Week’s Celebrations

The Literary and Close-to-it Celebrations

• The birthdays this week… Percy Bysshe Shelley, Jojo Meyeshe, Robert Hayden, and Dennis Lehane on the 4th of August; David Baldacci on Aug 5th; Alfred Tennyson on the 6th; Garrison Keillor on Aug 7th; the 8th celebrates the birthdays of Jostein Gaarder, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and Sara Teasdale; Barbara Delinsky on the 9th of August, followed by Suzanne Collins on August 10th
• National Book Lovers Day is on August 9th!

The Foodie Celebrations

• Start with National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day on the 4th of August!!
• It is National Root Beer Float Day on the 6th and then
• the 7th brings National Raspberries N’ Cream Day
• Then it is National Frozen Custard Day on the 8th of August
• followed by National Rice Pudding Day is on Aug 9th
• While August 10th is National S’Mores Day

The Other Celebrations

• Did you know there’s a whole day dedicated to wiggling your toes? August 6th is  National Wiggle Your Toes Day! I might’ve done a little toe jiggle myself while reading about it.
• The fun doesn’t stop there—August 7th shines a light on one of my favorites:  National Lighthouse Day ! (A beacon of joy, truly!)
• Then comes August 8th, a day that’s practically bursting with goodness—International Infinity Day, Global Sleep Under The Stars Night, and National Happiness Happens Day. Can we agree this one deserves some confetti?
• And just when you think it can’t get more relaxed, August 10th kicks in as National Lazy Day. I feel like it’s practically inviting us to put our feet up… and maybe wiggle those toes again!I

Wrapping up my Sunday Scribblings

So dear reader, this was it for this post. As always, appreciate and totally welcome your thoughts, comments, and suggestions on these scribblings on Sunday! And which of these days in this wonderful week do you plan to celebrate?

What brings you joy? A favorite sound? A kind word? A moment of peace? Try turning it into a line of poetry. Whether you find happiness in other’s poems or in your own creations, make happiness happen for you and others around you each day. And if you write a poem, do share your list poem in the comments—or just carry it with you as a secret smile.

Linking this to the Sunday Post over at the Caffeinated Reviewer and the Sunday Salon