Earlier this month I saw a callout on the Instagram page of POCC to submit a piece of art or writing on the theme of “age”. POCC is a brilliant platform and network amplifying the work of people of colour who are either part of the creative industries or hope to be.

They have already collaborated with outdoor media owner Clear Channel to place “artist-in-residence” work on digital billboards across the UK on topics including mental health and Pride (specifically drag queen and activist Marsha P Johnson).

I would never consider myself a poet, much less an artist, but I do try to be poetic in my turn of phrase. And why else would you be a writer if not to surprise and delight the reader? As the author Octavia Butler often reminded herself, “Make people think, feel and know. Make them feel, feel, feel.”

I am thrilled to say that my piece was accepted and is fleetingly on display across the UK in the following places until the evening of Sunday 22 August.

– Aberdeen (Union Square Shopping Centre)
– Barnet (Brent Cross Shopping Centre)
– Basingstoke (Festival Place)
– Brighton (Churchill Square Shopping Centre)
– Birmingham (Bull Ring Shopping Centre, Grand Central Shopping Centre)
– Bristol (Cabot Circus Shopping Centre)
– Crawley (County Mall, facing Debenhams)
– Croydon (Centrale Shopping Centre, upper level)
– Derby (Derbion)
– Dudley (Merry Hill Shopping Centre)
– Ealing Broadway Shopping Centre
– Fareham Shopping Centre
– Glasgow (Silverburn Shopping Centre)
– High Wycombe (Eden Shopping Centre)
– Inverness (Eastgate Shopping Centre, upper mall)
– Kingston Upon Hull (Princes Quay Shopping Centre and St Stephens)
– Leeds (Victoria Gate Shopping Centre, Victoria Quarter Shopping Centre)
– Manchester Arndale
– North Avon (Cribbs Causeway)
– North East Fife (Kingdom Shopping Centre)
– Plymouth (Drake Circus)
– Reading (The Oracle Shopping Centre)
– Sheffield (Meadowhall Shopping Centre)
– Southampton (West Quay Shopping Centre)
– Sunderland (The Bridges Shopping Centre)
– Tunbridge Wells (Royal Victoria Place, first floor)
– Wakefield (The Ridings, upper level)
– West Lothian (The Centre)
– Woking (Peacocks Shopping Centre)

Congratulations also to artists Michel Onésio, Llum Canut, Sumuyya Khader and Jalieka Campbell among others. Be prepared to wait or be lucky as each is only there for around 10 seconds, slipped into a rotating selection of countless ads. Blink and you’ll mess ‘em.

You may not be able to read the full piece in the image above, so here is the text.

A work in progress

Don’t let the past cast shadows over your future
This rubble of regret jamming up your dream factory
Instead, pour all of that you have felt, learned, endured
Into a well

 

Let it give weightlessness to your weary bag of bones
Wash away the stubborn stains of nostalgia
Flush apathy and acrimony from your fallible form
Drown out the tick-tock of it’s-too-lateness

 

You are a vessel forever altering its aspect to the sun

 

Feel calm in knowing more from one day to the next
Time has gifted you hard-earned experience
Distilled you to your essence
Every imperfection a mark of distinction
Now listen out for the murmur of possibility

 

Get ready to chase your joy
Again and again…

 

You are not the person you used to be,
and that is how it should always be
You see

 

So on to your next
New beginning

**EXTENDED VERSION/DIRECTOR’S CUT**

A work in progress

Don’t let the past cast shadows over your future
Or let the rubble of regret jam up your dream factory
Instead, pour all of that you have felt, learned and endured
Into the well that waters your mind (and others’)
Gives weightlessness to your weary bag of bones
Guides a more graceful movement onward

 

Let it drown out the tick-tock of it’s-too-lateness
Wash away the stubborn stains of nostalgia
Flush apathy and acrimony from your fallible form
You are a vessel forever altering its aspect to the sun

 

Feel calm in knowing more from one day to the next
Time has gifted you hard-earned experience
It has distilled you to your essence, and with it  
The right to feel more comfortable in your own skin
Your imperfections adorn you like marks of distinction

The right to go at your own pace, opt out of the race
To live unapologetically, laughing in face of your demons
To dare to disappoint anyone but yourself
To direct the movie of your life, then star in the remake
This is your stature so carry it with conviction

But listen out for the murmur of possibility
Get ready to chase your joy
Be open to that inner voice that calls you
Beyond yourself … again and again

You are not the person you used to be,
and that is how it should always be, you see
So on to your next stage of becoming
On to your next new beginning

ABOUT THE PIECE 

As kids, we feel this excitement and anticipation about growing up. The future is unwritten. Anything is possible. Then we enter this new phase of “getting older” and things start to change. When exactly does that happen? Why? 

Too often, an adult’s attitude towards ageing is shaped more by fear and anxiety than the joy of wisdom or the benefit of experience. I wanted to write something that instils pride and gives hope to everyone. But as a 42-year-old, I am also speaking directly to anyone who feels time slipping away that little bit quicker.

Did you catch me at any of the places above? Got a better photo than mine?

How did the poem make you feel? What or who came to mind?

Drop a thought below. Alternatively, you can find me on Instagram and Twitter @amarofpatel.

Thanks to everyone at POCC and Clear Channel for the support.