Superannuation always sounds a bit pompous as a word. I would rather call it easing into the evening of life. This is not to say that the formative or the subsequent phase of development is of little value. If that is the case there will be nothing to look back on or turn your eyes to the future. In most cases retirement seems to have a jarring impact because of the overwhelming anxiety about health or the possibility of becoming a waste. Neither is true. Many remain active in specialized tasks one way or the other though they may not be painting the town red.
Writing is one though skill levels and perceptions vary when one takes the laptop on his lap. Whether one sets out to put down his opinions – political, social, literary or otherwise – he is normally held back by a query whether it would pass as mediocre, too laudatory or stringent. Often one is also plagued by reservations that he is too condemnatory. But a certain width of familiarity with facts and data gives a stamp of certitude and realism to the opinions expressed. Once this cautionary sign is taken care of then writing does become a pleasure. And opinions also are worth a look and the author gains in confidence too.
Perhaps sounding a bit pedantic or pedestrian? I was testing myself as to how I would generalize on the creative exercise of writing and how valid it sounds. Creative writing? That takes one into a different realm altogether and let me not dwell on the cliché that it is the most satisfying (exhilarating, if it comes out really well) exercise though one has to grit his teeth doing it.
Poetry from Plato’s days has been the Spoken Word though it has been eased into the sidelines consistently down the generations. So pathetic it is that many celebrated poets ended up publishing books with no hope of selling them. Thereby hang quite a few tales like “tattered coats on a stick.”
However poetry is perhaps the most incisive, revelatory medium where the author comes out in all transparency. Be it imagery or socio-cultural setting one is able to identify, if not relate to, the specificity/historical significance of a poem though not its full ambience. It is because of the poet’s distinctive upbringing in a different milieu. But it is revelatory, nonetheless.
Yet it is not marketable or has not been properly marketed. This despite the fact that there are hundreds who keep punching away at the laptop earnestly to show their fascination for it.
What keeps them going? Just an amorphous feeling that it is creative and meaningful. Or even an escape from the overbearing routine of earning their bread. Once the routine is a thing of the past cozy up in the room and give shape to what you feel.
