This geriatric ‘timebomb’ calls for poetry in motion
By Mark Cantrell
SAY what you like about poetry, it’s certainly versatile,
more so than our society as it struggles to cope with the growing population of
elderly people.
The old ways of dealing with the issues of senescence no
longer quite cut it, according to a lot of people involved in the business of
worrying about such things, so the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has opted
to call on the power of poetry to challenge tired old thought-streams.
So look away from the blue skies, scrunch up the envelope
and chuck it in the box; there’s brain juice to burn and some original thought
to inspire. Specifically, the organisation wants to make us all think – about
growing old and what it all means. All very metaphysical, but this being the
JRF, there’s plenty of more down-to-earth concerns at the root of it all.
As part of its research programme, ‘A Better Life’, the
organisation commissioned the former poet laureate Sir Andrew Motion to create
the new poem. Inspired by thoughts, experiences and stories of older people
drawn from more marginalized groups, Motion’s works aims to offer an insight into
the elders’ world by encouraging us to listen to them.
“I created this poem
as a collage – it’s made of scraps taken from interviews, things I’ve
overheard, things I have invented,” said Motion. “The idea was to create a
portrait of age which is at once fragmentary (because everyone’s experience is
unique to themselves) and unified (because ageing involve sharing certain
things in common). I hope the result is realistic about the difficulties posed
by time and the passing of time, and yet also celebratory of certain
experiences that time allows – the richness of memory, the sense of narrative
shape within life.”
Motion’s poem forms the centrepiece of a new website
commissioned by the JRF to – as the organisation puts it – “offer glimpses
into what life is like for older people with high support needs”.
The site celebrates old age, using photography by the
award-winning photographer Jo Hanley to illustrate the oldsters’ stories shared
on the site, as well as portraits of centenarians by the photographer by the UK
photographer Chris Steele-Perkins. The people telling their stories on the site
include older people with learning disabilities, older lesbians, gay men and
bisexuals, South Asian elders, people living with dementia, and Gypsy elders.
“We hope our programme of work looking at what makes life
better for older, frailer people will inform debate, without stereotypes or
prejudice, about how we adapt to our ageing society. Old age is not about
‘them’ – it is about all of us. And the sooner we start listening to those with
the experience, the sooner we can all start planning for a better life in old
age,” said the JRF’s chief executive Julia Unwin.
Catch the website and the poetry here at Better Life.
MC
Category: SOCIETY
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