A Time To Skive

By mark p

Sun, 13 Nov 2022
  • 374 reads
3 comments
 

 

Retirement beckons, a time to skive,

Or to be honest , for coming alive

The end of the endless daily grind,

Time to sit back and relax your mind.

 

A brand-new start, a change of scene

Time to change what you have been

A fresh white canvas ready for paint

A sketchbook page,  free of taint.

 

Wondering what all the struggle was for,

The stressing,  the anger, the internal war,

Seeking inspiration, where do I look?

Slapdash oilpainting, or writing a book?

 

 

Chats over coffees, going for meals

Forgetting how being stressed-out feels

You wonder how you got to the end

Now life is becoming an endless weekend.

 

 

 

Certificate U
Poem
Back Wynd of the Mind and Other Poems

Comments

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

I love this poem because it speaks to me. Me and my partner have been retired for a couple of years now and it's the best time of our lives.

Enjoyed your poem.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by mark p on

 

 

Submitted by Ciadish on

What loveliness - particularly like "A fresh white canvas ready for paint/A sketchbook page, free of taint." Though I'd probably go for acrylic paints rather than oils because I've heard they dry faster (TBF, never tried oils but as turpentine gives me migraine, suspect oil paints may not be feasible option for me anyway).

I'd also choose painting *and* writing a book because they're both fun and useful in different ways (I find painting can be great when the words aren't working and I need a break from writing. I paint from nature photos and find it really satisfying trying to match the colours of nature/recreate the clouds etc. It's relaxing, if sometimes frustrating when a colour just won't match, and uses a different part of the brain to writing, but still offers a route to flow state)

My grandfather wrote two books when he was alive, and they bring me great solace now. They were never published but I'm hoping to type them up and try again (he wrote many letters to publishers and got many 'we like it but lack budget' type responses back in the 50s/60s) as what was social comment about rural vs urban life/unions and cooperatives/workers' rights at the time is now beautiful social history about the 1920s-1940s (in the case of one book - the other is about smugglers in Cornwall and again, full of history). With a book, you leave memories for loved ones, and a way to connect through time, as well as whatever the contents of the book are. As the old adage goes, "Life is short but art endures".