The Paradoxical Optimist

By M.J Queenan

Some Thoughts, Some Fiction, Some Truths, Some Therapy.

M.J. Queenan's debut poetry collection covering his feelings on life, the darkness that affects us all and thoughts on the modern world. He covers a number of topics from love to social media, to politics, to anxiety and depression, always trying to create a discussion or some thought-provoking response to what you're reading. The poems are also intertwined by two reflections between each, to try and make you question how you think about a number of other topics such as life, religion, sorrow, love and how we treat each other.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9780244469924

Book preview

The Paradoxical Optimist

The Paradoxical Optimist

Some Thoughts.

Some Fiction.

Some Truths.

Some Therapy.

Copyright © 2019 M.J Queenan

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

ISBN: 978-0-244-46992-4 (e-book)

Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Names, characters, and places are products of the author’s imagination.

First printing edition 2019.

Published by:

Lulu Publishing

Dedication

To my beautiful wife, who has made me a better person every single day I’ve known her

Reflections

The general pondering of a paradoxical optimist

A Moment

Live in the moment like it’s all that you see.

The past is forgotten, the future yet to be.

Don’t spend your life worrying about what’s happened before,

Or what’s happening to others outside your front door.

Experience life as it is, rather than how you want it to be.

Don’t let ego ruin it, focus on your inner beauty.

You must experience it all, happiness and pain,

Live through it, grow stronger, rather than staying the same.

If you’re constantly worrying, then how can you see,

That life is a gift, that’s been given to thee

Thoughts

I have enough. I do enough. I am enough

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Enjoy Today

Heaven

What if this is heaven? This place that we call earth.

The thing we take for granted from the moment of our birth.

What if this is heaven, and we’re just destroying it all?

Ruining the world around us, like some poor unknowing fools.

What if this is heaven and God is watching from above?

Seeing how we treat others, with hatred and not love.

What if this is heaven and we’re all the chosen ones?

Not appreciating what we’ve been given, wasting what God’s done.

What if this is heaven and there’s nothing after this?

Shouldn’t we be thankful for this miraculous joyous gift?

What if this is heaven? Do we really want for more?

The life that we’ve been given that most choose to abhor

What if this is heaven?

Thoughts

Confidence is knowing yourself better than anyone else knows you, and accepting your own flaws and insecurities

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The person who only sees the negative in things, will miss all the beauty in life

Nature

The mist over a glade as the sun just kisses the horizon

The faint smell of lavender being passed along by the breeze

A birds song to welcome the morning, and another one singing back

The light dripping of water off the trees from the overnight rain

The sound of twigs breaking as an animal moves through the undergrowth

The silence as we walk slowly through a pantheon of tall trees majestically ignoring us

The sea rhythmically chasing you and then running away again

Water falling