School of Life

Bloganuary 2024 Day 3 Prompt – What colleges have you attended?

Picture this: an old shipping dock, you can hear the water lapping up against the wooden support beams, the occasional cries of the gulls add to the atmosphere. The breeze carries the smell of the sea and the sky is a deep blue. A man of indeterminate age is leaning back against a stack of wooden packing crates, his arms are crossed in front of him, his face is weathered and worn with laugh lines bracketing his blue eyes. A small scar intersects his top lip on the left and another angles across his lined forehead. His hair is still thick, the dark blonde mostly shot through with grey. His name isn’t Jack, but that’s what he’s been called for most of his life.

Jack me lad, Jack of all trades, Jack in the box, Jack be nimble.

Didn’t need no fancy book,

And don’t you be giving me a dirty look.

Scars and calluses are nothing to mock,

I fed my family with work on the dock.

My path was carved by my father before me,

His father before him and so on… you see.

I’ve worked hard,

And my work was true.

I’m just as good a man as you.

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I have no idea why Jack popped into my head yesterday when I started writing, but he had something to say.