This week, we're unraveling the sentimental journey behind the word 'nostalgia'. Join Susie and Gyles on a linguistic journey through time, where every word is a portal to the past.
Enjoy Susie’s Trio for the week:
Desiderate: To yearn for something one once had but has now lost.
Listicle: Simply, a little list!
Natsukashii: A Japanese word used when something evokes a fond memory from your past and that is enough in itself.
Gyles' poem this week was 'Growing Old ' by Nanette Newman:
Growing old is like a career
only a career you didn’t train for
you didn’t expect
and you certainly didn’t want.
This ‘new’ career – creeps up on you
And surprises you.
For instance
You find yourself saying new lines, like
‘Everything looks a bit blurry’
‘Why do my legs hurt me?’
‘Why do my arms have flabby bits?’
‘Why can’t I run any more?’
‘Why do people speak so quietly?’
‘Why is my iPad such a mystery?’
(even though my six-year-old Grandson has shown me how to work it ‘ten’ times)
And ‘why do people hide my house keys?’
Also you suppose this New career (Growing Old) is going to
Have a long run, but
Showbusiness being what it is
It could come to a sudden end
(but perhaps best not to think about that).
Anyway - if it does run -
You hope the notices are ‘good’
Critics might say ‘you look good for your age’
But - this is not the role you’d chosen to play.
Anyway it seems you’re stuck with it
And let's face it you have been rehearsing for it for many years!
When you think about it
There’s a bit of ‘Agatha Christie’ about
This new part - for instance
Skirts hanging in the wardrobe
Suddenly get smaller
Round the waist -
Something mysterious changes
The colour of your hair
Chairs try and hold on to you - so that
You can’t get out of them
Why is print smaller?
Why do you look forward
to a hot water bottle at night?
(that’s definitely climate change)
Also, what is filling your body with liquid –
So that you have to pee all night?
(This definitely needs more research).
Your new career
‘Being Old’
Has a long list of questions
Surrounding it - to be
Honest – the part is not
Really very well written –
And doesn’t have much
Appeal – ( no wonder Judi Dench turned it down).
You ask yourself
Is the character you
Are now going to play
Wiser? – no – I don’t think so
Funnier? Only unintentionally
Like – when you forget
Where you’re going – or
Throw your arms round
The plumber, because
You thought he was your
Friend's husband, come
Round because he’d
Found your glasses.
Anyway, how long you’ll be
Playing this part
(You don’t want to play)
You’ve no idea.
You don’t feel the
Rehearsals have been
‘long enough’.
Some of the cast
(the even older members
Have already left the
Production) –
You miss them.
So – this is a step
into the unknown
in your ‘new career’
a new part to play.
Will it have a ‘long run’?
Who knows
But there you go
‘That’s Showbusiness’
So – Here we are.
A Sony Music Entertainment production.
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