"Warning"

"When I am an old woman

I shall wear purple

With a red hat which doesn't go,

and doesn't suit me."

- Jenny Joseph

I love the following poem. And I have a few aunties in my life who DO wear purple and who also don the large, flowered house dresses that only aunties and old ladies are allowed to wear. I'm all for wearing purple, and red hats, and for "making up for the sobriety of my youth." I think I'll start now. 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

Comments

[Ms D]

It's long been an ambition of mine to wear purple and learn how to spit! Since I read the poem in fact.

[Darth Vader]

Umm, what happens if I already dress like that? Oh wait! That was BEFORE I traded in my funky jedi robes for the ultra-hip 'all black' look. It goes with my groovy helmet...

[Tish G]

I've been thinking alot about this sort of thing lately. When I went to a recent media and blogging conference in NYC, it was driven home even more how those of us who are not part of the 18-34 cohort are pretty much insiginificant to popular culture. And what freedom! We can listen to unhip music, wear really ugly clothing, and not have to worry about whether or not we're as thin as the latest 17 year old on the cover of Vogue. There's a heck of alot of fun to be had after 40!