Literary, found and research poetry: New approaches to representations of ageing and aged care

At a time when rapid population ageing is producing an emphasis on questions of healthy ageing in the public discourse, conditions such as dementia, physical and other disabilities still too often remain taboo, and this is particularly true in relation to the confronting subjects of aged care, neglect, and failures of care provision. This article considers the transformative potential of two different but complementary forms of poetry – research poetry and lyric poetry – to break these silences and represent experiences across the physical and emotional spectrum of ageing, including the perspectives of older people and their families whose experiences are neutral, negative, or even distressing, as well as challenge and counter existing negative stereotypes of ageing in the public and literary realms. Neither research poetry nor lyric poetry are common in gerontological research; however, they offer radical potential to offer insight into the lived realities of older people and their loved ones. Research poetry uses the direct words of older people, drawing on transcripts and found texts, and giving voice to people who otherwise would not be heard. Lyric poetry, by contrast, draws more heavily on literary techniques such as metaphor and direct address to evoke sensory and intimate experiences of ageing and aged care. This paper presents two poems comparing and contrasting the respective processes and techniques of these different poetic forms to represent the imaginary, feared and hoped-for futures of older people, including those in aged care