unaware I stand,
open and unsuspecting—
expecting nothing.
nothing known, to guard against
loving blissful ignorance
Rose-colored glasses
the rough ahead seems rosy
details blurred ignored
dreams blossom with optimism—
truth in blissful ignorance.
Ethnicity lenses—
now that's a great idea
AI scans your race
then changes faces you see
into this ethnicity
All is rosy hue
all painted with the same brush
from the honey pot—
with judgment blurred, truth concealed
all differences bled away
Verse 1
For some time, have I floated—mildly adrift.
One killick holds me—not too deep, not too swift.
Though life threw waves, to force me down—this slightly rusted metal had held me.
I thought I would be safe… until other anchor bound.
In the anchor—turned weight; the drowning became fate.
I fight the surface, the struggle, the search.
The air—thick with sadness; no breath, no lurch.
The killick kills… then wave swallows.
Verse 2
I hold the key… that could allow me free.
A simple lock—I ignore and block.
I thought the anchor made me drown… but it was my mind that pushes me down.
Blissful ignorance, in blue-black Sea.
The ignorance—and fear—force weight on my key.
Why I choose to be weighed, by the tiny killicks attempting dismay…
When did they pile? How long, since I've smiled?
Maybe we accept it… and throw this heavy key away.
How long do you think
you can ride the coattails
of blissful ignorance?
Isn't it flagrantly obvious that
you are skating on thin ice...
and equally evident that
you're living on borrowed time?
How long do you think
you can get away with avoiding
the elephant in the room?
Have I been the unjaded enabler
whilst my silence should have screamed
to you louder than any multitude of decibels?
AP: Honorable Mention 2025, Honorable Mention 2025
Holidays are meant to be significant for enjoyment!
The problem is that the proposal for engagement is met with pure blissful ignorance!
Denying my words for a union of an engagement!
Was wrong as you lied to a person that wanted to build a bridge based on acceptance!
Stay within the confounds of your status as you will not live in bliss!
You focused on a symptom of similarities and not of outwardness!
Due to your lies and ignorance I am not inclined to change your status to misses from miss!
I am a man that when given the chance will go to straightforwardness!
You gave up on improvement!
You would rather be in denial!
It is sad that you would not look at me as a form of improvement
You look at your future in a form of a person that likes to see the truth of being a person that likes to beguile!
Enjoy your stupidity and go forth!
THE POINT OF TIME
From the initial first breath to the very last
Is a life that has to be given room to grow
And time to think, if only to know oneself
The future beckons yet recognises the past
Realising those things that one might know
Nothing is to be ignored or left on a shelf
They say that time can be the great healer
But only if pain or damage has been done
Yet sometimes that’s the basis of learning
When experience becomes a true revealer
And the acquisition of knowledge is begun
Feeding the flames when fire starts burning
But then, in time, when days grow shorter
And one sees others only half way there
Children are in blissful ignorance, it seems
Perhaps descendants of a son or daughter
Life experience, it’s almost a duty to share
Among the facts, leave room for dreams
The blissful ignorance of self-denial
as a means to self-awareness and inner meaning
denies the selfless bliss of
service and love for others.
To make less of self,
to cease selfish cravings and desires,
is more about striving to satisfy
the needs of others than to
blast away at what you think you need
to satisfy and satiate, your own inner selfish needs.
Self-denial is a dead-end fork
on the road to self-awareness.
For the blind cessation of self, if unrequited,
lets frustration break out
into unresolved blights and sores
that you alone cannot heal.
The path to less self-awareness
lies in unselfish selflessness
to others.
What a cop out, for one
who always sleeps on their right side
To admit to ignoring the context,
the background and milieu,
which colors your decisions and choices,
and side you lean towards.
There is nothing implicit in bias ingrained,
and the norms and context,
in which you were born, learned and grew up,
that allow you to claim you're
asleep at the wheel, dozing lazily in blissful ignorance.
How can that possibly excuse you
from not learning about the other side,
not discovering how others may see, feel and think,
given their different background and pathway through life.
To claim you're unconscious when you decide, and bleat forth
is a conflict of interest,
with implicit, explicit, disinterest on show,
for all to see.
It's a cop out,
an excuse to be biased
irresponsibly.
Wake Up!
Before I knew the answers
life was one big question
Wonder hid round every turn
laughter as my Muse
As answers came the questions left
each day like that before
Laughter but an echoed wish
wonder lost — unfound
(Villanova University: April, 2024)
The waves beat at the shore
Abruptly pouncing
Slowly retreating
Again and again
White froth churning
My eyes watering
My throat tightening
I open my mouth
Nothing
Silence
Water blissfully moving by me
The silence so sweet
Yet saltier than the ocean waves
Neverending cerulean blue
Wading through this Atlantic oblivion
Wallowing in these dark depths
Deeper
Deeper
Laughing
Water filling my lungs
Crying
Needing you
Needing just a breath
A breath of your chlorine
Your toxic gases that are so inviting
That’ll save me
The waves beat against the shore
Abruptly pouncing
Slowly retreating
Again and again
The sea foam takes me, engulfs me swiftly
As if it’s last supper
You just watch
You don’t help me
I float among the waves, as they gently touch my shoulders
Their fingers so cool yet comforting
Something I craved
They whisper nothings in my ear
They encourage me to follow their maniacal, repetitive beating against the shore
I can finally let myself go
And let these waves take my hands and follow their peculiar dance
That is so freeing
In this freeing bliss
I can rest now
Not at peace but at blissful ignorance
And the thought that I tried
clearly hard being different
will take a strong flexible spine
despite how inconsiderate
must obey each and every sign
not so easy being odd
physically out of tune
spat on with words from god
vilified inside cartoons
existence well defined
by prigs and blissful ignorance
all must be tight aligned
to others’ selfish interests
don't step out of line
for they are ever watching
hate is not benign
your hang rope could be notching
the masses won't be swayed
left with little choice
traditions must be obeyed
don't dare raise your voice
operate on the down low
hide true feelings deep inside
let very few people know
normal's so hard to abide
clearly hard being different
despite how inconsiderate
physically out of tune
vilified inside cartoons
existence well defined
all must be tight aligned
don't step out of line
hate is not benign
the masses won't be swayed
traditions must be obeyed
hide those true feelings held inside
acting normal’s hard to abide
wearing
blinders we don't see the big picture clearly
we remain lost in a blinding pogonip
never finding our way out
of its dense, misty blanket
akin to
looking at the world
with jaundiced eyes, especially when the world
is no
clearer than
besmirched lens
keeping us from entertaining
novel ideas, seeing
situations from another perspective
such close-mindedness
does beget cynicism in
the final analysis
a celebration of blissful ignorance
to see things
as they are
we must stay awake and keep our eyes open.
Suzette Prime Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Emile Pinet
Syllable count: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, etc PLUS a philosophical statement
Date written: 01/28/2021
Cars were humming
People were bustling around
These things happened
All year round.
We lived in blissful ignorance
Of the deadly pathogen
But when it roared to life
'twas chaos all around.
The world shut down
No one moved around anymore
Except for one pathogen
You guessed it right - Covid-19.
While we were in our houses
Cowering in fear
This malicious spirit prowled the land
Covered the sky, spread in the sea.
It travelled around the world with glee
Now, normal our life was not to be.
Somehow, it found many of us
Dug into our skin
Didn't spare our mind
Nor our life.
It is unwilling to end this strife
It is unwilling to give us respite
It wants the whole world to itself
Which shows us its selfish self.
But it is evil and we are good
We can do anything if we are in the mood
So a vaccine will be knocking soon
With a smile as bright as the shining moon.
How do you prefer bad news
Sugar coated
Or
Not at all
As
Ignorance is bliss
In singular, in blissful ignorance,
I happily existed in advance
of tasting blithely an ambiguous kiss.
My dear singularity, intact
complacent wholesomeness, what have they done:
a sweet saliva, a Chrysostom tongue,
the lips, a bit thin lips, to be exact,
a tricky smile, a quick eye at the clock
and a continuation of the talk
like nothing happened, chilly and abstract.
Split into two, bereft of unity,
alas, I have no more immunity
for dual... Truly, ignorance is bliss.
Once I’ve invented this form: aab, cddceec, ffb. I don’t know how to call it. Kurtistani?)
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