On Mar 20, 4:04 am, thinkbig.shrinkto...@online.no (Keera Ann Fox)
wrote:
> > WHEN I AM AN OLD WOMAN I SHALL WEAR PURPLE
[snipped poem]
> OK, that's a book I won't be reading. The above poem strikes me as a
> horror story!
>
> I won't be that woman. She scares me. She's miserable now and wants to
> be an irresponsible trouble-maker in the future and even mentally ill
> (hoarding is a mental illness). No, thanks! (Yes, I am aware that some
> women are that repressed. I still don't want to be them.)
I guess I read the poem differently. I read a woman who couldn't wait
to be an old lady and have fun doing silly things.
Right now, she had to be a responsible adult and:
....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 she longed for the day when she could go around:
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 the 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
And she wondered about the future and how she would appear so:
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.
There is an organization here in the USA called The Red Hat Society.
http://www.redhatsociety.com/info/?
....where there is fun after fifty (and before) for women of all walks
of life. We believe silliness is the comedy relief of life and, since
we are all in it together, we might as well join red-gloved hands and
go for the gusto together. Underneath the frivolity, we share a bond
of affection, forged by common life experiences and a genuine
enthusiasm for wherever life takes us next.
"The Red Hat Society began as a result of a few women deciding to
greet middle age with verve, humor and elan. We believe silliness is
the comedy relief of life, and since we are all in it together, we
might as well join red-gloved hands and go for the gusto together.
Underneath the frivolity, we share a bond of affection, forged by
common life experiences and a genuine enthusiasm for wherever life
takes us next."
- Sue Ellen Cooper, Queen Mother
While visiting a friend in Tucson several years ago, Sue Ellen
impulsively bought a bright red fedora at a thrift shop, for no other
reason than that it was cheap and, she thought, quite dashing. A year
or two later she read the poem "Warning" by Jenny Joseph, which
depicts an older woman in purple clothing with a red hat. Sue Ellen
felt an immediate kinship with Ms. Joseph. She decided that her
birthday gift to her dear friend, Linda Murphy, would be a vintage red
hat and a copy of the poem. She has always enjoyed whimsical
decorating ideas, so she thought the hat would look nice hanging on a
hook next to the framed poem. Linda got so much enjoyment out of the
hat and the poem that Sue Ellen gave the same gift to another friend,
then another, then another.
One day it occurred to these friends that they were becoming a sort of
"Red Hat Society" and that perhaps they should go out to tea... in
full regalia. They decided they would find purple dresses which didn't
go with their red hats to complete the poem's image.
The tea was a smashing success.
Soon, each of them thought of another woman or two she wanted to
include, and they bought more red hats. Their group swelled to 18, and
they began to encourage other interested people to start their own
chapters (18 women don't fit well around a tea table). One of their
members passed along the idea to a friend of hers in Florida, and
their first "sibling" group was born.
Sue Ellen's fondest hope is that these societies will proliferate far
and wide. We have now held three successful Red Hat Society
conventions -- entire hotels filled with women of a certain age wearing
red hats and purple outfits! Could world domination be far behind?
marcy
An Old Lady... (joke) 
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