Thursday, October 20, 2011

Thursday extracts. Jenny Joseph on growing old disgracefully

Warning 
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Jenny Joseph

*********
I'm working on it.
All colours, italics and emphasis in the above are mine.

4 comments:

snafu said...

Try this address
redhatters-uk.com/
It is a society which subscribes to all that in Jenny Joseph's poem.

You may occasionaly see them out and about on trips, all wearing red hats and purple.

MorningAJ said...

Oh you are a gem! I want to join. I think I might even start my own group!

Sandra Davies said...

It was my younger son who told me about the red hat brigade, having seen them on a station headed for an outing - Birmingham, possibly? - so there might already be one in your neck of the woods.
I always want to cheer whenever I see old ladies in scarlet rather than beige.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Morning AJ .. I love this poem .. and my mother always said poof if she didn't agree and went her own way - she definitely would have fitted in here.

Love that they have outings too .. and Snafu has given their web-address ..

Great fun - gave me a smile .. Hilary