The coach headlights are thrown on full beam,
Illuminating a sandy stage,
As the dancing pairs,
Defy their age.
And though the evening is warm enough,
That coats aren’t required,
You still couldn’t have guessed at the inspired,
Choice of attire on display.
Sequins, sequins everywhere,
Heavy make-up,
Cumulus hair,
No colour to garish,
No trouser too tight,
An army against blandness,
Dressed for the fight.
Here, there’s no disgrace,
In a belly that struggles to remain penned,
By the buttons on a shirt,
Or a jowl that wobbles more,
Than a few years before.
It’s not about being airbrushed and pert,
Because the reality,
Is that this happiness comes more,
From enjoying the commonalities,
We find with other people;
More from appreciating what you’ve got,
Than what you had;
Not from being grateful,
Just from being glad.
beautifulorange 
Vivid imagery that you created here. Great job.
Thanks Charles… much appreciated.
Wow….I loved this. New to your work….glad I found it. I can close my eyes and see the picture you paint. Thank you.
What a lovely comment… thank you so much. Hope you like the other excerpts that I’ve posted too. I’m going to keep posting them till I’ve finished my first draft.
I look forward to it…..yes, I will definitely be around….!! Looking forward to it. 🙂
Cumulus hair… Brilliant turn of words!
Thanks John… I like that bit too!
Beautiful write-up.
Thanks!
Nice work. Love the “heavy make-up” “cumulus hair” part; very well-worded. I really liked the last four or five lines to, but the whole thing is good.
Thanks Garrett – really appreciate you taking the time to read and comment.
Hmm. In some ways this is almost like a tribute to social media relationships 🙂
Ha. I didn’t of that when I was writing it!
It is rather true though–we are do much less concerned with holding in our guts and so forth and feel much less socially awkward,no?
Absolutely… it’s much easier to let it all hang out on social media. I think it’s even easier on blogs… on FB and twitter, people are generally connected to all their friends and family… but blogs are often one step further removed.
Thoughts to ponder…
Cumulus hair. Enough said right there. Love it!
Ha. Thanks Danielle.
NICE!!!!! Love it.
Thanks a lot!
As some one who is hating ageing, I love this!
Ha. Thanks so much.
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I really liked this. Vivid imagery. Like the others said, I can easily envision the picture that you paint.
One thing… And I don’t know how you feel about it, but… I find that it’s easier to follow poetry if not every line begins with a capital letter. I was always taught poetry should be punctuated the same as prose. Thoughts?
That’s really interesting. I’ve never been taught poetry so have always capitalised the first word of a line without really thinking about it. Hmm, you’ve made me think now!… I’ll have to try it out the other way.
Well, now that I’ve actually done a little bit of research, it looks like I was way off base—as in, completely wrong. Sorry! Scratch what I said. Carry on as you were. Great job!
Ha. Well it doesn’t mean that you don’t make a good point… I’m hardly sticking to any rules with my work so I might explore removing the capitalised letters and see how it feels.
Yes—beautiful! Totally agree: Because the reality,
Is that this happiness comes more,
From enjoying the commonalities,
We find with other people;
Thanks so much!
Oh, I loved this. That is the difference between living and nostalgia.
Thanks so much – I really appreciate it.
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