{"id":359750,"date":"2026-07-31T07:15:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T07:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/anthropology\/poems-on-aging-well-anthropolitan\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T07:15:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T07:15:39","slug":"poems-on-aging-well-anthropolitan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=359750","title":{"rendered":"Poems on Aging Well \u2013 Anthropolitan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/p>\n
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By Lara Scott-Rule<\/strong> \u00a0BSc Anthropology with Year Abroad<\/em><\/p>\n\n
I've\u202falways said, if you\u202fdon't\u202flook in the mirror, you\u202fdon't\u202ffeel any different.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0
It's\u202fjust, you look at yourself and you think, who are you? Where did you come from?\u202fYou're\u202fmy mum.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I now\u00a0have daughters that are 51 and 50.\u202f\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I've\u202fgot grandchildren, I\u202fdon't\u202fthink they particularly view me as old.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
Sometimes you think, why am I tired?\u202f\u202fThen I think,\u202fyou're\u202f76.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I think I can remember thinking people like 50 were old.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I'd\u202flike to slow it.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I mean my dad died when he was 69.\u202f\u202fMy mum was 85.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I suppose they seemed old;\u202fsort of old\u202fin\u202ftheir\u00a0\u2013\u00a0in some of their\u00a0\u2013\u00a0ways,\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
The way they dressed, the way they thought.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I mean even now, you look at some older people,\u202fand you think,\u202f\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cWhen\u202fdid you get to the age when you thought you\u00a0had to wear, like, old lady shoes?\u201d\u202f\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I still wear my jeans and my jumpers.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I never saw my mum in a pair of jeans, ever.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I find walking difficult, but\u202fI've\u202falways loved swimming,\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
I swim\u202fpractically every\u202fday,\u202f\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I\u202fdidn't\u202fever\u00a0have swimming lessons or anything like that.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I used to go to the beach as a child, and my dad taught us all to swim in the sea.\u202f\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I've\u202falways just loved that; I\u202fcouldn't\u202fdo other things.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I like it because of the exercise, but\u202fthere's\u202falso the social side of it.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I do\u00a0crosswords, a bit of reading.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I think\u00a0it's\u202fjust trying\u202fto keep yourself as fit and healthy as you can,\u00a0really.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I do look online,\u202fI've\u202fgot my iPad,\u202f\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I\u202fcan't\u202fsay\u202fI've\u202fgot a great deal of\u202fdissatisfaction;\u202fthe only thing is I think I\u202fhaven't\u202fa clue who my doctor is.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I\u202fdon't\u202flike social media,\u202f\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I'm\u202fnot on Facebook,\u202f\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I've\u202fnever been on Facebook.\u202f\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I worry for my grandchildren.\u202f\u202f\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I do worry.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
I suppose I feel\u00a0the\u00a0oldest if\u202fI'm\u202ffeeling\u202funder the weather.\u202f\u202f\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I\u202fdon't\u202fvery often feel old, to be honest,\u202fat the\u202fmoment.\u202f\u202f\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
As I say,\u202fit's\u202fonly when I look in the mirror sometimes,\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
I think, oh, my\u202fmum's looking back at me.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
Youngest, when\u202fI'm\u202fhaving a\u202freally good\u202flaugh and a chat with my grandchildren.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
- Penelope, 76, leisure centre in\u00a0Hampshire\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>
\u00a0<\/p>
I swim here\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
I swim all over.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
I've\u202falways swum.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
I think\u202fit's\u202fa combined love of being in the sea.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
\u202fI lived here\u202fnearly 50\u202fyears, and\u202fI've\u202falways\u202fswum in the sea.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
I'm\u202f72; I was brought up in\u202fsoutheast\u202fLondon; I moved down here when I was 25.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
I\u202fdon't\u202fthink\u202fyou're\u202fgoing to\u00a0have anything more magical.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
You'd\u202fswim out and look at everybody's windows and everything;\u00a0\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
You\u202fcan't\u202fdo anything when\u202fyou're\u202fswimming in the\u202fsea, except\u202fbe swimming in the sea.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
I think the saddest change\u202fis for farmers.\u00a0<\/p>
On\u202fWomen's\u202fHour, do you ever hear about farming?\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
I think\u202fthat's\u202fthe thing, is that communities are not represented really.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
I\u202fknow\u202fit's\u202fvery easy\u202fto centre on cities,\u00a0<\/p>
but\u202fI think that people\u202fjust get on with it here.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
I've\u202fgot three sons, three daughters-in-law, grandchildren.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
But\u202fit's\u202fbeing independent,\u202fand\u202fit's\u202fthem seeing you independent.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
I\u00a0think as a woman\u2026\u202fI\u202fshouldn't\u202fsay that.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
I think\u202fit's\u202fvery easy\u202fto start relying on people.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
I'm\u202fadopted,\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
I think in the adoption,\u202fbecause my mother wanted specifically to\u00a0have a girl,\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
I\u202fthink I\u202fgot stuck in a position of\u202fwhat's\u202fexpected of me.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
If you live in a city,\u202fyour\u202fhorizon's\u202fthere.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
But if you live by the sea, your\u202fhorizon's\u202fthere.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
It's\u202fa different horizon.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
And\u202fit's\u202fa distance, and\u202fit's\u2026\u00a0just incredible to sit out,\u202fand\u00a0to see.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>
- Francesca, 72, community caf\u00e9 in Cornwall<\/strong><\/p><\/pre>\n
These I-poems are taken from my dissertation on the concept of \u2018ageing well\u2019.\u00a0Created from interview transcripts, I-poems are formed by selecting participants\u2019 uses of\u00a0\u2018I\u2019\u00a0and arranging them into poetic stanzas. This method\u00a0has evolved from the Listening Guide, a four-stage voice-centred relational method developed primarily by Carol Gilligan and\u00a0her\u00a0colleagues within feminist psychological research (Gilligan et al., 2003).\u00a0My\u202fresearch compared\u202fexperiences of\u202fageing in a suburban town in\u00a0Hampshire\u00a0and\u00a0a coastal village in Cornwall.\u00a0\u2018Ageing well\u2019 was a deeply relational and embodied process for my participants, whereby their sociocultural context and emplaced identities shaped what it meant to live well and thrive in later life.\u00a0Creating these poems was a way to\u00a0maintain\u00a0the participant voice in\u00a0the\u00a0thematic analysis and presentation of data.<\/p>\n
\nPhoto by the author.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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