Finns

Finns are Happiest Humans on Earth.

If hot steam’s not the cause of their mirth—

Nine consecutive years

Number One—is what cheers,

Saunas banning their smartphones from birth?

 

Mike Mesterton-Gibbons is a Professor Emeritus at Florida State University who has returned to live in his native England. His poems have appeared in Current Conservation, the Ekphrastic Review, Light, Lighten Up Online, the New Verse News, Oddball Magazine, Rat’s Ass Review, WestWard Quarterly and other journals. In 2025 he won the Children’s Unpublished category of the Eyelands Book Awards with Flora’s Flock and Other Stories to Read Aloud. The poem was prompted by the CNN story “A Nordic nation is the world’s happiest country for the ninth year in a row.”