Book Signing: For Jayn and Katherine
One day we’ll all write books
then retire to a tropical island
to live without shoes on our royalties
pick fruit off the trees for breakfast
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We’ll buy fresh fish wrapped in newsprint
but won’t read the news on Iraq
We won’t have TV, won’t have to listen
to songs of the 60’s being used to sell products
______________________________
One day we’ll live without clocks
sit in rocking chairs on an oceanfront porch
We’ll write our memoirs on the backs of postcards
and forget how to drive cars
____________________________
After swimming like seals all morning
we’ll sip tea at sidewalk cafés
sign autographs for tourists under sky-blue umbrellas
We’ll eat pastry but won’t get fat
______________________________
We might pose for the paparazzi
with hibiscus flowers in our hair
and while reporters from the mainland ask for our opinions
we’ll be writing short stories on our café napkins
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At sunset we’ll dance on the beach
loose like kites without strings
until we land like sailboats docked at the harbor
and dream free verse under the stars
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~ Colleen Redman 8/05
August 29th, 2006 9:11 am
Well we once talked about retiring to the Bahamas for our winters….
I’d have to find a way to pack the dogs and cats but the gas prices and heating oil bills are taking my tropical winters away!!!
August 29th, 2006 9:20 am
ME, TOOOOOOO!
:0)
August 29th, 2006 9:30 am
Well, the more the merrier on this one. This poem came from the very real experience of signing my book for these two girlfriends. We each write and we have traveled together. I wanted to write this sentiment on the page, but it was too long!
August 29th, 2006 9:31 am
Are you illuminating your version of “Under the Tuscan Sun”? From the mountains of VA to the beaches of somewhere? If writing is this lucrative, then I chose the wrong profession.
August 29th, 2006 9:33 am
LOVE THIS!
August 29th, 2006 9:38 am
Hi Colleen…
I really like this. Sounds more like a the beginning of the second week in ‘heaven’ to me.
And just in case someone wonders…under these living conditions I would be more than willing to wear a hibiscus or two in my hair.
Thanks for sharing…
August 29th, 2006 9:38 am
Great thoughts and sounds like an ideal way of life. Let me know if you find that pastry without calories. (smile)
August 29th, 2006 10:04 am
What a lovely aspiration…so dreamy…
August 29th, 2006 10:08 am
That sounds absolutely lovely. 🙂 Hello from Michele’s! *goes to read a bit more before taking her leave*
August 29th, 2006 10:54 am
Sounds good to me, Colleen!
I particularly would like this dream to include Chocolate that doesn’t make you fat and is in a bundant supply! (lol)
btw: I didn’t watch the Red Carpet stuff (Taped it on NBC) cause I was watching “DEADWOOD” and then “BROTHERHOOD”….It was the Deadwood finally!
I don’t think it’s right for them to be mean about the dresses and such until at least the next day—so I agree with you. And it’s just someone’s opinion…! I LOVE all these “EXPERTS”…Deliver us from the experts, please!! (lol)
August 29th, 2006 11:41 am
Oh, count me in on this one, Colleen.
August 29th, 2006 1:02 pm
With a little selective vision, sounds not far off your now. 🙂
August 29th, 2006 3:19 pm
How[ do you know my dreams so well? I would love to do all those things – starting now – but I have no writings to live off the royalties…boohoo.
August 29th, 2006 4:30 pm
what an absolutely lovely poem! Thanks for sharing 🙂
August 29th, 2006 5:32 pm
oh, Colleen…how blissful!!
I like the sound of that. 🙂
have a good night!
May 27th, 2011 10:28 am
[…] 9. One day we’ll live without clocks / sit in rocking chairs on an oceanfront porch / We’ll write our memoirs / on the backs of postcards / and forget how to drive cars / After swimming like seals all morning / we’ll sip tea at sidewalk cafés / sign autographs for tourists under sky-blue umbrellas / We’ll eat pastry but won’t get fat … Read the rest of this poem HERE. […]
August 24th, 2011 9:27 pm
Oh this IS a winner indeed!!
Bring on the freshly buttered croissants!!
And long after the leaves of our oaks have fossilized our lost rings and whatzits
curious onlookers cordoned off from our dining rooms and studies, poets with spanking new moleskin minis in their back pockets, will oooh and ahhh at our teacups in the museums our writing garrets will be then.
Hope the code link on that works. Here goes…
August 24th, 2011 9:28 pm
it did work! ( i think) hover over my masterpiece words “moleskin minis” in above comment.
January 27th, 2016 10:10 pm
[…] 7. Jayn and Katherine were also members of our seven year long Floyd Writer’s Circle and are the ones who I wrote the poem Book Signing for, which starts: One day we’ll all write books / then retire to a tropical island / to live without shoes on our royalties / pick fruit off the trees for breakfast … More HERE. […]