Glee vs Misery

I've read some comments on the The Triggering Town by Richard Hugo and it makes me curious... In happiness versus misery, which would be the winner? Well, it would depend on the perspective. Many poets that we know of are best recognized for their powerful (and often confusing without some context) poems that are both beautiful and perturbing. When the word "poet" comes up, what do most people picture? I won't use that as my question, though it's an interesting thought.

Do we picture a soft landscape with someone writing of their love for nature? Or do we more often imagine a frantic writer desperate for their words to be heard, or at the very least to relinquish their minds of the flurry of provoking thoughts?

Shall I compare thee to a poet's glee?

Not really.

Thing is: you're more likely to compare stressful feelings to things you've never actually experienced.

Cloud nine? Sure. Happiness can feel like floating. You can feel relaxed and calm, but those are still things you've physically experienced. You've floated in water. You've been relaxed, before. I... can't actually think of more descriptions of happiness except comparing it to the blazing of a thousand suns, which I imagine none of us have seen before.

Think of when you have lost someone close... Perhaps a relative or a friend? Maybe even something happened in your life? And everything came crashing down... You felt as though you had a thousand pounds on your shoulders causing them to droop... Your eagerness to talk about these things lessens, but you often do have a lot to say. Often times, frustration becomes overwhelming.

Perhaps it's just me? I wouldn't exactly suggest that misery, depression, or anxiety can make for the best poetry all the time, but these troubling emotions tend to have a louder voice than the soothing tone of v-a-c-a-t-i-o-n.

You are more inclined to get creative when you're expressing something distasteful. Triggering things are what make us write, and in this world... what triggers you?

Watching the news, seeing the world in such madness with its riots, starvation, and murders?

Here's my question:

Which catches your attention first: singing or SCREAMING? Now, see, that's unfair. I capitalized that whole word as compared to the singing... But it's unpleasant, isn't it? Out of place? A bit forceful? Unsettling?

Ha. Just kidding. That wasn't my real question.

My question is: which do you think is more powerful for writing muse? What drives you more?

This is just my personal curiosity after reading. Nobody likes sad endings, but you remember them more than any other part.

I'm getting caught up more in the psychology of it than anything. My apologies.

Have a good Spring Break, guys!