I am a little late this week with my entry for the Art Journal Journey challenge as set by Erika and Valerie which is "Poetry". It is linked with the quote "I'm looking forward to your visit being over" and I have chosen a passage from 'The Merchant of Venice' which is also classed as poetry. My lateness is due to my back pain returning after a few months of respite, mainly due to the pressure I have been putting on my left side due to the injury to my knee. Sorry.
Shakespeare is the best selling poet in English of all time. 'Thirty eight plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems and a handful of others' - according to Google. I remember in my school days we had to study a Shakespeare play each year in great depth, leading to my study, in my final year, of "The Merchant of Venice". I can still remember having to learn the most famous of lines by Portia "the quality of mercy is not strained ..... that gives and him that takes" - that is as far as I remember but it had to be learned rote fashion in those days, no taking books into the examination as I found out years later when I became a teacher invigilating an English Literature exam in the great big hall. The pupils were allowed to take in their books! And for Maths I handed out a sheet of formulae!!
"Dawn was in her probationary year as a teacher at the local High School. People just did not understand how much work she had to do. No, they all thought teachers had short hours and long holidays and it was not a difficult job after all. It was coming up to the end of her first year of teaching and she was exhausted. All the marking of coursework had to be submitted and there were still lessons to prepare, other marking to be kept on top of and there was so little time.
She had been sat on the floor with a pile of books planning the lessons for her upper school lessons when the doorbell had gone and in came Emma, her friend who worked behind the beauty counter at the local department store.
"Oh, you want to see the latest colour of lipstick that has just come out, matching nail varnish and the most adorable eyeshadow ....." and on and on she went. "Did you know that Connor is going to be on the next series of 'Glow Up' on TV? It's so exciting....... Brown's have a sale coming up so there will be the most adorable dresses at prices we can afford........ Patricia says there are going to be some famous bands coming into town.......Are you coming to the music Festival this weekend?"
Poor Dawn just did not know what to say. She didn't want to be offensive to her friend, let's face it she needed to keep her friends close since she was miles away from family now that she had taken up this teaching post. Yet, she had so much to do and didn't really have time for idle chatter, not tonight any way.
"How can I say 'I'm looking forward to your visit being over' to one of my friends", she pondered. "What on earth can I do to get her to leave without being rude? If only the phone would ring or something."
Just then, as if by magic the telephone rang and she said "Excuse me, I must get that." It was her mum ringing to see how she was. "It's Theo" she mouthed, covering the phone with her hand so mum wouldn't hear. Theo being her boyfriend from back home.
"Oh I'd better go then" said her friend, "I know you will be ages talking to him and I guess you will want to talk privately anyhow" and with that her friend left.
Dawn heaved a sigh of relief, never had she been so glad to have a phone call from her mum. "Can't talk too long mum" she said, but you have no idea how glad I am to be able to talk to you. Five minutes max as I have so much work to do for tomorrow." And with that she sat back down and began telling her mum about the week she had had."
