Ignorance is bliss.

what happened in the 80s should stay in the 80s

 

 

I saw a blind girl yesterday

 She bumped into me on her way to get a glass of soda and I

    Cringed when I noticed her eyes fixed to the ceiling.

 

I bumped into a man with no arms yesterday

 And I hurt myself because of his sharp shoulder blade

  We both said, "Excuse me," and went on our way.

 

I cheated a retarded kid out of two dollars yesterday

 What was he going to say to his parents?

    At the moment, I didn't even care.

 

I laughed yesterday at a girl wearing polka dot pants and a

striped shirt

 

                            I laughed so hard 'til I began to cry

                            She heard me and did the same

 

TODAY

 

                That blind girl I bumped into smelled fire when I couldn't even see

            smoke and my little sister died.

 

                That man with no arms I bumped into felt an earthquake

            arising with his feet while I was too busy lifting weights.

 

                That retarded kid is working now in a factory and is doing very

       well.  No one knows that he's retarded because his parents paid

       good money to send him to school.  Who know what that extra

       two dollars could have done!

 

                And that girl who I laughed at for wearing polka dot pants and a striped

       shirt...well, she's now a fashion model making $11000 a day in France

 

 

   -    While I sit back damning my bliss.

Reviews

[Annette Jay Sweeney]

Wow. The form you wrote this in works very well. I really enjoy the subject matter. What a good way to express everything. It just goes to show we need to take a closer look at things. I'm impressed. I like that you don't put THE PAST or anything at the beginning. It was much more interesting for you to show there would be a change later on. The second line in the second stanza may contain an error. Is it supposed to be shoulder blade, not should blade?

[Christina May Shanaberg]

I really liked this poem and have been trying to find time to read your material, since you joined the site; I was not disappointed. Very nice, very nice!! A lot of lessons for one poem, but you handled it well!