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That Awkward Age
"Roger McGough’s eagerly awaited new collection is a powerful testament to the miraculous in the everyday. Here he builds us his world: one of chance encounters and embarrassing moments, of big questions and small wonders. ‘At that awkward age now between birth and death,’ he addresses Alzheimer’s and wrestles with mortality. He resolves (and fails) to live everyday as if it were his last, joins the Foreign Legion, jives in Macca’s trousers, shares the pain of Mr Sappho and Lord Godiva and plans a prison break. With his inimitable warmth, wit, and wordplay, Roger McGough affirms his position as the pre-eminent poet of the magic moment – the happy collision of life, language, and imagination.”
85 pages, Hardcover
First published June 25, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
November 11, 2019
3.5 stars. There were poems in this I really really enjoyed and others not so much. This was a personal favourite:
The Wrong Beds
Life is a hospital ward, and the beds we are put in
are the ones we don’t want to be in.
We’d get better sooner if put over there by the window.
Or by the radiator, one could suffer easier there.
At night we dream of faraway places:
The Côte d’Azure, all perfume and light.
Or nearer home
a cottage in the Cotswolds, a studio
overlooking the sea.
The soul could be happier anywhere than
where it happens to be.
Anywhere but here. We take out medicine
daily,
nod politely, and grumble occasionally.
But it is out of our hands. Always the wrong place.
We didn’t make our beds, but we lie in them.
The book included so many different themes from depressing ones to silly poems that made you laugh. For a bumpy but enjoyable ride, read this.
The Wrong Beds
Life is a hospital ward, and the beds we are put in
are the ones we don’t want to be in.
We’d get better sooner if put over there by the window.
Or by the radiator, one could suffer easier there.
At night we dream of faraway places:
The Côte d’Azure, all perfume and light.
Or nearer home
a cottage in the Cotswolds, a studio
overlooking the sea.
The soul could be happier anywhere than
where it happens to be.
Anywhere but here. We take out medicine
daily,
nod politely, and grumble occasionally.
But it is out of our hands. Always the wrong place.
We didn’t make our beds, but we lie in them.
The book included so many different themes from depressing ones to silly poems that made you laugh. For a bumpy but enjoyable ride, read this.
August 26, 2016
A lovely collection of poetry. Some of the poems are hilarious and some are touching, there was a great mix. My favourites were To Airplanes, A Fine Romance, The Care Less Cat and One after Another.
October 23, 2024
I first came across McGough in The Mersey Sound, which blew my mind (and the literary establishment's). But maybe it was just the reflected glory of his co-anthologists, Brian Patten and Adrian Henri, which made me take to him then. This collection was disappointing; a lot of the poems felt genuinely amateur. Best to stick to his kids' poetry, which is lovely.
February 4, 2015
Through his poetry, Roger McGough has become a British National Treasure. In public performance, he comes across as a thoroughly likeable, and humbly thankful, man; qualities which also shine through his poetry.
Unlike too many so-called ‘poets’ these days who confuse poetry with rambling creative writing; McGough sparkles in both great image and word-skill in his verse. Hence his poetry is deeply satisfying to read aloud, especially so to an audience. He is also clever enough to select subjects which his audience recognise. With a sharp knife he displays penetrating insight, straight to the point, then performs a flipover to identify a new aspect, to spin a new twist, which both delights and challenges his reader or listener to stop and think anew.
“This Awkward Age” is a magnificent study of the human animal as and when we are caught out by the surprises of Life. I think my favourite is “Dylan the Eavesdrop”, because McGough has used his vivid and questioning imagination to produce such a very plausible scenario explain how great poets (perhaps) find ‘inspiration’. … and so, logically, the reader/listener starts (but gets no further) to wonder where McGough finds his sparks …..!
Unlike too many so-called ‘poets’ these days who confuse poetry with rambling creative writing; McGough sparkles in both great image and word-skill in his verse. Hence his poetry is deeply satisfying to read aloud, especially so to an audience. He is also clever enough to select subjects which his audience recognise. With a sharp knife he displays penetrating insight, straight to the point, then performs a flipover to identify a new aspect, to spin a new twist, which both delights and challenges his reader or listener to stop and think anew.
“This Awkward Age” is a magnificent study of the human animal as and when we are caught out by the surprises of Life. I think my favourite is “Dylan the Eavesdrop”, because McGough has used his vivid and questioning imagination to produce such a very plausible scenario explain how great poets (perhaps) find ‘inspiration’. … and so, logically, the reader/listener starts (but gets no further) to wonder where McGough finds his sparks …..!
June 18, 2012
A delicious slim volume of lovely poetry in classic McGough style.
A nugget of Misters, inspired by Carol Ann Duffy's The World's Wife
A poem to Radio 4s Poetry Please programme, if you please, a punful piece on department stores which 'wastes the time' of the reader but oh how delightfully, an account of the humiliations of being the visiting poet, a poem "To my Final Poem"
Impossible to single out a true single favourite, but "To Bedtime Stories", with his wife threatening the children with their father's poetry makes me smile and smile and smile and smile.
A nugget of Misters, inspired by Carol Ann Duffy's The World's Wife
A poem to Radio 4s Poetry Please programme, if you please, a punful piece on department stores which 'wastes the time' of the reader but oh how delightfully, an account of the humiliations of being the visiting poet, a poem "To my Final Poem"
Impossible to single out a true single favourite, but "To Bedtime Stories", with his wife threatening the children with their father's poetry makes me smile and smile and smile and smile.
March 4, 2017
Innumerevoli sono le composizioni poetiche e non che si sono ispirate al famoso invito "Carpe Diem" del poeta Orazio. Forse è l'espressione più famosa al mondo perché delinea in maniera impietosa, eppure illuminante, la condizione umana. Due parole-trappola, dense di retorica ma elastiche nel loro significato sui valori della possibilità e della futilità. Caratteristiche dell'uomo, dei suoi sentimenti e delle sue aspirazioni.
Di questo noi uomini siamo fatti e se ne fanno continuamente portavoce poeti e scrittori. Ma anche uomini comuni, così come possono, nella loro quotidiana lotta per l’esistenza. Tutta tesa al significato dell’essere. Tutti ricordano John Keating, quello straordinario professore di Inglese nel film del 1989 "Dead Poets Society". Le sue terribili parole che scioccarono ed esaltarono i suoi studenti, anche tragicamente per uno di essi: “Siamo cibo per i vermi, signori! Lo vogliate o no, ognuno di noi in questa aula uno di questi giorni smetterà di respirare, si raffredderà e morirà”. La salvezza sembra allora “cogli l’attimo”, che fugge e giammai ritornerà. Ma è bene inquadrare le due parole di Orazio nel loro contesto che è il seguente:
Carminum I, 11
1 Tu ne quaesieris, scire nefas, quem mihi, quem tibi
2 finem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babylonios
3 temptaris numeros. Ut melius, quidquid erit, pati,
4 seu plures hiemes, seu tribuit Iuppiter ultimam,
5 quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare
6 Tyrrhenum: sapias, vina liques, et spatio brevi
7 spem longam reseces. Dum loquimur, fugerit invida
8 aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.
—
1. Non domandarti – non è giusto saperlo – a me, a te
2. quale sorte abbian dato gli déi, e non chiederlo agli astri,
3. o Leuconoe; al meglio sopporta quel che sarà:
4. se molti inverni Giove ancor ti conceda
5. o ultimo questo che contro gli scogli fiacca le onde
6. del mare Tirreno. Sii saggia, mesci il vino
7. – breve è la vita – rinuncia a speranze lontane. Parliamo
8. e fugge il tempo geloso: carpe diem, non pensare a domani.
Leuconoe, una delle sue donne, lo consola bevendo. Proprio lei, il cui nome significa “dalla chiara mente”. Ma si capisce bene che con la mente poco lucida, non si può dare una risposta alle domande che ti pone la vita. Ogni artista, poeta o scrittore, come del resto ogni comune essere umano, elabora una sua propria condotta, sia per difendersi che per attaccare, per vivere o per sopravvivere.
In una poesia, scritta dal poeta inglese Roger McGough nella sua raccolta di poesie intitolata significativamente"That Awkward Age", il tema del “Carpe Diem” viene ripreso in quanto presente in “quella strana età tra la nascita e la morte”. Vale a dire lo spazio della vita, l’attimo, il giorno, il momento, appunto. Perché, tutto considerato, la vita è tale. Un napoletano direbbe: “N’affacciata ‘e fenesta”. Ecco il testo della poesia di McGough. L’ho tradotta liberamente. Ebbi il piacere di incontrare il Poeta alla Summer School di Marlborough il 14 luglio del 2009.
On reaching sixty, I decided
to live every day as if it were my last.
But it didn’t last.
A sessant’anni ho deciso
di vivere ogni giorno come l’ultimo.
Ma non è durata a lungo.
After three days of lying in bed
in a darkened room, I tore off the oxygen mask,
opened the curtains and sacked the nurse.
Dopo tre giorni a letto
in una stanza buia, mi sono tolto l’ossigeno,
ho tirato le tende e mandata via l’infermiera.
There was more to life, surely,
than worrying about when it would end.
And how. The secret was Carpe Diem.
C’era ancora molto da vivere, certo,
piuttosto che starmene lì ad aspettare la fine,
come e quando. Il segreto era Carpe Diem.
So out I went to seize the day.
To catch the unawares and hug it.
To bathe in its light, to enjoy every minute.
Così uscii per cogliere l’attimo.
Afferrare l’impossibile e carezzarlo.
Immergermi nella sua luce, godere ogni minuto.
But the day kept me at arm’s length.
Didn’t want to be touched
Bobbed and weaved until it dwindled away.
Ma il giorno mi sfuggiva di mano.
Non voleva essere toccato
Scivolava ed ondeggiava fino a svanire.
At 1 a.m. I ended up in the bar of the Carpe Diem
drunk and counting the cost. Another day wasted.
Another chance lost.
All’una di notte sono finito al bar del Carpe Diem
ubriaco e sfinito. Un altro giorno perso.
Un’altra opportunità svanita.
Then who would walk in, looking the worse for wear
but the nurse. We hugged then staggered back home.
She drew the curtain. We climbed into bed.
Ed ecco chi ti vedo entrare in cerca del peggio,
l’infermiera. Ci siamo abbracciati e siamo andati a casa barcollando.
Ha tirato le tende e siamo saltati nel letto.
In quelle settimane della Summer School avemmo la possibilità di vivere attimi irrepetibili che restano nella memoria e nell’esperienza di chi vi ha preso parte. L’incontro con il Poeta Roger McGough ci permise di comprendere quanto sia importante cogliere l’attimo del mondo che è là fuori e che si riflette nel mondo di ciascuno ed ognuno di noi. Nella sua raccolta McGough trascrive momenti e sensazioni fatti di meraviglie e di realtà, di suggestioni e di illusioni, tutte vissute in quella “awkward age” che va dalla nascita alla morte. Una età davvero “strana“, quella dell’attimo della vita, vista nell’eternità del mondo.
Di questo noi uomini siamo fatti e se ne fanno continuamente portavoce poeti e scrittori. Ma anche uomini comuni, così come possono, nella loro quotidiana lotta per l’esistenza. Tutta tesa al significato dell’essere. Tutti ricordano John Keating, quello straordinario professore di Inglese nel film del 1989 "Dead Poets Society". Le sue terribili parole che scioccarono ed esaltarono i suoi studenti, anche tragicamente per uno di essi: “Siamo cibo per i vermi, signori! Lo vogliate o no, ognuno di noi in questa aula uno di questi giorni smetterà di respirare, si raffredderà e morirà”. La salvezza sembra allora “cogli l’attimo”, che fugge e giammai ritornerà. Ma è bene inquadrare le due parole di Orazio nel loro contesto che è il seguente:
Carminum I, 11
1 Tu ne quaesieris, scire nefas, quem mihi, quem tibi
2 finem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babylonios
3 temptaris numeros. Ut melius, quidquid erit, pati,
4 seu plures hiemes, seu tribuit Iuppiter ultimam,
5 quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare
6 Tyrrhenum: sapias, vina liques, et spatio brevi
7 spem longam reseces. Dum loquimur, fugerit invida
8 aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.
—
1. Non domandarti – non è giusto saperlo – a me, a te
2. quale sorte abbian dato gli déi, e non chiederlo agli astri,
3. o Leuconoe; al meglio sopporta quel che sarà:
4. se molti inverni Giove ancor ti conceda
5. o ultimo questo che contro gli scogli fiacca le onde
6. del mare Tirreno. Sii saggia, mesci il vino
7. – breve è la vita – rinuncia a speranze lontane. Parliamo
8. e fugge il tempo geloso: carpe diem, non pensare a domani.
Leuconoe, una delle sue donne, lo consola bevendo. Proprio lei, il cui nome significa “dalla chiara mente”. Ma si capisce bene che con la mente poco lucida, non si può dare una risposta alle domande che ti pone la vita. Ogni artista, poeta o scrittore, come del resto ogni comune essere umano, elabora una sua propria condotta, sia per difendersi che per attaccare, per vivere o per sopravvivere.
In una poesia, scritta dal poeta inglese Roger McGough nella sua raccolta di poesie intitolata significativamente"That Awkward Age", il tema del “Carpe Diem” viene ripreso in quanto presente in “quella strana età tra la nascita e la morte”. Vale a dire lo spazio della vita, l’attimo, il giorno, il momento, appunto. Perché, tutto considerato, la vita è tale. Un napoletano direbbe: “N’affacciata ‘e fenesta”. Ecco il testo della poesia di McGough. L’ho tradotta liberamente. Ebbi il piacere di incontrare il Poeta alla Summer School di Marlborough il 14 luglio del 2009.
On reaching sixty, I decided
to live every day as if it were my last.
But it didn’t last.
A sessant’anni ho deciso
di vivere ogni giorno come l’ultimo.
Ma non è durata a lungo.
After three days of lying in bed
in a darkened room, I tore off the oxygen mask,
opened the curtains and sacked the nurse.
Dopo tre giorni a letto
in una stanza buia, mi sono tolto l’ossigeno,
ho tirato le tende e mandata via l’infermiera.
There was more to life, surely,
than worrying about when it would end.
And how. The secret was Carpe Diem.
C’era ancora molto da vivere, certo,
piuttosto che starmene lì ad aspettare la fine,
come e quando. Il segreto era Carpe Diem.
So out I went to seize the day.
To catch the unawares and hug it.
To bathe in its light, to enjoy every minute.
Così uscii per cogliere l’attimo.
Afferrare l’impossibile e carezzarlo.
Immergermi nella sua luce, godere ogni minuto.
But the day kept me at arm’s length.
Didn’t want to be touched
Bobbed and weaved until it dwindled away.
Ma il giorno mi sfuggiva di mano.
Non voleva essere toccato
Scivolava ed ondeggiava fino a svanire.
At 1 a.m. I ended up in the bar of the Carpe Diem
drunk and counting the cost. Another day wasted.
Another chance lost.
All’una di notte sono finito al bar del Carpe Diem
ubriaco e sfinito. Un altro giorno perso.
Un’altra opportunità svanita.
Then who would walk in, looking the worse for wear
but the nurse. We hugged then staggered back home.
She drew the curtain. We climbed into bed.
Ed ecco chi ti vedo entrare in cerca del peggio,
l’infermiera. Ci siamo abbracciati e siamo andati a casa barcollando.
Ha tirato le tende e siamo saltati nel letto.
In quelle settimane della Summer School avemmo la possibilità di vivere attimi irrepetibili che restano nella memoria e nell’esperienza di chi vi ha preso parte. L’incontro con il Poeta Roger McGough ci permise di comprendere quanto sia importante cogliere l’attimo del mondo che è là fuori e che si riflette nel mondo di ciascuno ed ognuno di noi. Nella sua raccolta McGough trascrive momenti e sensazioni fatti di meraviglie e di realtà, di suggestioni e di illusioni, tutte vissute in quella “awkward age” che va dalla nascita alla morte. Una età davvero “strana“, quella dell’attimo della vita, vista nell’eternità del mondo.
June 22, 2020
Synopsis: includes "Paul McCartney's trousers"
My Beatlemaniac ass: 👀
Jokes and Macca aside, these were slap-up, hilarious poems. You can really tell McGough had the fuckin time of his life writing these.
My Beatlemaniac ass: 👀
Jokes and Macca aside, these were slap-up, hilarious poems. You can really tell McGough had the fuckin time of his life writing these.
April 14, 2013
For me, this is everything poetry should be; razor sharp wit, side-splitting humour and insightful observations, all weaved together into beautiful verses.
October 29, 2013
A mature Roger McGough but with the same spunk that I saw in The Mersey Sound. Fun, funny, insightful.
April 10, 2019
These poems are funny and sad, wise and fun.
They are brilliantly written with content that is also well done.
If there was any poem I was reading that I felt was just average, there would be a joke or imagery or a turn that made the poem great.
It's main function as a book, other then to enjoy and give wise insight, is other ways of looking at death and the edge of life, 'That awkward age' It does so with gusto, from the optimistic to the pessimistic, touching or funny or sublime or all of those at once.
It's also very entertaining and has many other fine poems, not just centred around mortality.
For those looking to see a differant side of looking at mortality, either in poetic fiercness, in good humour or just wisely, this is the book for you.
They are brilliantly written with content that is also well done.
If there was any poem I was reading that I felt was just average, there would be a joke or imagery or a turn that made the poem great.
It's main function as a book, other then to enjoy and give wise insight, is other ways of looking at death and the edge of life, 'That awkward age' It does so with gusto, from the optimistic to the pessimistic, touching or funny or sublime or all of those at once.
It's also very entertaining and has many other fine poems, not just centred around mortality.
For those looking to see a differant side of looking at mortality, either in poetic fiercness, in good humour or just wisely, this is the book for you.
August 29, 2024
#thesealeychallenge
Day 29:
‘That Awkward Age’ by Roger McGough
Roger McGough has a way of looking at the world that makes the ordinary seem miraculous and in this collection his cultural references also make it a book of my time - me being of a certain age, growing up, not with Macca’s trousers, but certainly with the Beatles and Meccano. With wit, sensitivity and not a little imagination, this is an excellent and entertaining collection.
Day 29:
‘That Awkward Age’ by Roger McGough
Roger McGough has a way of looking at the world that makes the ordinary seem miraculous and in this collection his cultural references also make it a book of my time - me being of a certain age, growing up, not with Macca’s trousers, but certainly with the Beatles and Meccano. With wit, sensitivity and not a little imagination, this is an excellent and entertaining collection.
January 25, 2021
I couldn’t connect with any of the poems in this collection.
February 16, 2022
i enjoyed most poems, as normal but i found this book had poems on so many different themes it was a little disjointed to read through.
August 21, 2023
An easy read with connexions which were usually understandable. I liked it but perhaps not to read again and again.
October 12, 2013
Brilliant! A poet with heart, soul and real wit. A poet who actually wants readers to be entertained and who understands that obscure composition acts against comprehension. Poetry is, after all a means of communicating ideas as well as emotions, passions and impressions.
Not generally a poetry reader, I came across this as a result of a comment made on my earlier review of Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood. And I’m so glad I was introduced to it. It made me laugh, sigh, wonder and think. But, more importantly from a personal point of view, it inspired me to have a go at writing poetry; something I’ve dabbled in rarely but will now look at as a means of expressing ideas about those things that arouse passion in me.
If you’re a poetry lover, this will be for you, unless you prefer those obscure verses that require the reader to possess much esoteric knowledge or perform psychic interpretation of otherwise meaningless strings of words.
If, like me, you’ve tended to avoid poetry as inaccessible or irrelevant, then I urge you to sample this volume. It will change your mind and show you what can be achieved by a fluid and fertile mind responding to everyday events in terms that are expressive, clever, funny, touching, deeply observant and, most of all, accessible. Thoroughly recommended. Loved it!
Not generally a poetry reader, I came across this as a result of a comment made on my earlier review of Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood. And I’m so glad I was introduced to it. It made me laugh, sigh, wonder and think. But, more importantly from a personal point of view, it inspired me to have a go at writing poetry; something I’ve dabbled in rarely but will now look at as a means of expressing ideas about those things that arouse passion in me.
If you’re a poetry lover, this will be for you, unless you prefer those obscure verses that require the reader to possess much esoteric knowledge or perform psychic interpretation of otherwise meaningless strings of words.
If, like me, you’ve tended to avoid poetry as inaccessible or irrelevant, then I urge you to sample this volume. It will change your mind and show you what can be achieved by a fluid and fertile mind responding to everyday events in terms that are expressive, clever, funny, touching, deeply observant and, most of all, accessible. Thoroughly recommended. Loved it!
October 3, 2013
A little bit too absurd for my taste, but some parts were really nice.
May 22, 2010
All about that awkward age between birth and death...
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews