Luncheon of the Boating Party, by Gareth Writer-Davies

Luncheon of the Boating Party, by Pierre Auguste Renoir (France). 1881.

Luncheon of the Boating Party

I blame his dealer
for making a quick franc

contracting his art
to jigsaw manufacturers and chocolatiers

his paintings
have become too familiar

and the soft fusings of figures
with matter

an affair of business
rather than the quickness of the hand

maybe his kin
monetarised the old man (to fund their own endeavours)

though
as his fingers stiffened and the brush slackened  

Renoir
may have thought of his friends upon a leaky boat (all now gone)

and an artist who outlives his muse and his vigour still has bills to pay
even genius needs a pension

​​Gareth Writer-Davies

Gareth Writer-Davies: Shortlisted for the Bridport Prize (2014 and 2017). Commended in the Prole Laureate Competition (2015) Prole Laureate for 2017. Commended in the Welsh Poetry Competition (2015) Highly Commended in 2017. His collection The Lover's Pinch (Arenig Press) published June, 2018.