What Was That Word Again?
It’s just a common little word,
so why have I have forgotten it?
I’ll have to get my handkerchief
and tie another knot in it
along with all the other knots
I’ve tied, when I’ve forgotten words
like “pedicure” and “penny-pinch”
and names of common garden birds.
It is a thing that comes with age
and not uncommon, I’ve been told
by one whose name I can’t recall.
(I never thought I’d get that old.)
I bought a book on memory
by Alexander Whatsisname.
He practises mnem-thing-amy.
I’m hoping I can to do the same.
The title’s How to Beat the Block,
as far as I can recollect.
When fading brain cells wander off,
it tells them how to reconnect.
I’ll quote from chapter seventeen …
at least, I think that’s where to look …
when I can I find my glasses and
remember where I left the book.
I’ll track it down. You make the tea
and, even as you’re brewing it,
remind me what I’m looking for
and why on earth I’m doing it!
Bjorn’s Lament
I’m a lop-sided Viking named Bjorn,
A thing of derision and scorn.
A bat out of Hell met
The side of my helmet
And left it with only one horn.
A Viking with only one horn?
No wonder I look a right prawn!
It makes me so blue
To recall I had two,
I wish I had never been Bjorn!
Jenny Dodge was born in Cambridge, UK, and grew up in a village surrounded by wheat, barley and sugar beet. She is old enough to remember the GIs arriving and taking over the Elizabethan manor house as their head quarters. They installed central heating. She went to school in Cambridge and took an Honours degree in English at Bristol University, married a doctor, lived in the Nigerian bush, had three sons, moved to New Zealand, moved back to England and now lives in Warwick. Her grandchildren range in age from 24 to 2 years. Loves writing, but autobiography is not for her, so fill in the details for yourselves!