Our associate at The Somerset, Shire Retirement Properties’ Managing Director, Rob Jones, posed the following question when he wrote about matters for consideration when buying into a retirement village:

Do you have a “big project” to keep you busy (like writing a book or getting that Diploma)?

Being ‘semi’-retired’  and still involved in ‘this’ and ‘that’ – some  research, some article writing which keeps her way to busy – one of our residents, Marita Burger, tries to fit in time for daydreaming  where she can translate her feelings of joy and sometimes of loss in writing poems.

Marita Burger recently did a presentation in the Library of The Somerset Clubhouse on the art of poetry with reference to her book of poetry, Soos die Manatoka. She is an academic author but also an avid reader, not only of contemporary literature including poetry, but also of mythology and epic ballads.

In her presentation she referred to mythology being a constant source of inspiration – the tragic figures, the love stories, passion and anger.

However, the title of the book refers to a Manatoka tree on Beach Road in the Strand – a little tree ravaged by the south-easterly wind and salt rain, but still surviving, for her symbolic of the Afrikaans language. The theme of loss and courage is repeated in the different sections of her poetry book referring inter alia to her long journey (still trying) to overcome cancer and the impact of gender violence on women in South Africa. It tells about her love for the west-coast, picking up shells, and her love for trees, walking in a forest, transcending in their wisdom.