Alan Hill has worked in education in both England and Scotland, and now lives in Edinburgh. In this book of tanka about the experience of age and ageing, he wastes no words. His utterances are wry, witty and, above all, truthful.
Gerontion is a pocket-sized publication, just right for sad-funny reading, with plenty of thinking space (for all ages) between its carefully paced pages. A great little present for the aging young and youthfully old.
Sample pages:
--LI--
Groaning helps. Stiffened
upper lips impress, suggest
classical learning,
though don’t abate pain. But yes,
groaning definitely helps.
--XIV--
What is a shilling?
she asked. But I couldn’t bridge
the thousand-year gap
that had suddenly opened
between her world and my own.