it would
be easy
to look away
to live life unaware
detached

easy
but not bliss
apathy costs
bits of soul, hardening
of heart

bliss is
not the be
all, end all goal,
but found in a moment’s
presence

~kat

It’s been another one of those long work-day weeks, where I barely have enough time to eat, sleep and start again. So I’m playing catch up today with three linked cinqkus. Have you noticed, the world is a mess…hurricanes, earthquakes, forest fires, impeachments, Brexit, nuclear accidents, children in cages or slaughtered, emboldened dictators and wannabe oligarchs. As much as I would love to turn it all off, and enjoy the first days of autumn, I can’t. My heart is made to bleed…and the truth is, when I care, and am doing the right thing, and being kind, and helping, my soul is energized. Ignorance is not bliss. Being present, living, participating in this messy life…that is bliss! And moments that take my breath away. Oh…and one more thing…I just noticed that if I combine the last lines of each stanza from above, I get this…

detached
of heart
presence

Peace…

A cinqku must always have 5 lines and a perfect seventeen-syllable count. The lines typically follow a 2,3,4,6,2 format. There is no title requirement on the second line. As for syntax and diction styles, it follows the free Tanka style originally. There are no metric requirements for a cinqku poem. Additionally, the final line must contain a cinquain or kireji turn for emphasis.