Ping… there are people who had happy childhoods
Pong… who don’t sulk when they lose
Ping… look forward to family gatherings
Pong… can discuss different views without wanting to fight
Ping… these people have never held a grudge
Pong… live lightly amongst us.
Ping… play games just for fun.
Pong…
Paint me as you see me, he says. Be completely honest.
And as she works, he talks and she listens. In her silence, he bares his soul. He loves Thursdays but longs to see his finished portrait.
There’s nothing there, he shouts. She smiles at him, shuts her studio door.
I’ve been honoured to be asked by so many people for a copy of the poem I read out at the Tunbridge Wells TEDx day, so I’m happy to share it here. It was made of the Oxford English Dictionary‘s words of the year from the last nine months – Vape, post-truth, selfie, squeezed middles, omnishambles, toxic, youthquake, Big Society and … well, look at the end of the poem for the ‘word’ for 2015… a little challenge for a writer.
I hope you enjoy it. And if you fancy doing a TEDx talk yourself, I’ve given some tips here. It’s not compulsory to write a poem.
Icarus vapes over a dictionary (2014)
by Sarah Salway
The weather was post-truth that summer, (2016)
we lounged in our gardens,
took selfies in lycra. (2013)
Those sunny Sundays,
even us squeezed middles (2011)
could imagine ourselves gods –
with music breaking through walls
and us dancing,
a rest from the omnishambles (2012)
of so many toxic headlines, (2018)
and if sometimes we looked up
in the hope
that it might never end,
perhaps we were waiting
for the promised youthquake (2017)
who would build us a Big Society, (2010)
a term many of us still liked the sound of
but few had ever understood –
if we were completely honest …
(2015)
And yes that last one was the Word of the Year in 2015!!
It was also a joy to see alternative words put up by the people who attended the day of talks, including more positive words that we WOULD LIKE to remember 2019 with. Here they are. I’m going to have to make a new poem, I can tell.
NB, Thank you to Simon Pearsall, the wonderful cartoonist who drew that cartoon at the top during my talk. It was a reference to how I use words in the same way as a builder uses bricks.
I’m so proud to be part of the Blackthorn Trust family as a trustee. This charity, situated in Barming near Maidstone, has been called an ‘oasis’ or ‘sanctuary’ for people at points of crisis in their life, whether that is mental or physical.
And as it’s based on Steiner principles, celebrating the change of seasons is important to us. This morning we celebrated Candlemas, that time halfway to spring, by gently lighting up the soil to wake the garden. The gardeners had dug a hole…
Which we – staff, trustees, volunteers, co-workers, friends – all then filled by going round in a circle ladling in hot wax…
Our ‘earth candle’ will be lit this afternoon and will burn for several nights. It was a beautiful way to celebrate the light returning and acknowledge stirrings in the soil, and as always the importance of rituals.
It’s also exciting to see the stirrings in the garden as our beautiful physic garden, designed by Marian Boswall, is coming into fruition. It will be officially opened on June 8th, and you are all invited. Come and celebrate with us!
Sarah Salway 