Body Parts by Janet Cameron Hoult Hits Us Where It Hurts--Really!

Our bodies, we were taught in Sunday School, were each a temple to God and we who had asked Him to come live within us were very aware of His presence. Still, unless you are athletically interested, many of us grew away from the Temple concept, didn't we?

Oh, many of us would have a "Come to Jesus" meeting, especially in church-sponsored weight Bible study programs, where we would prayerfully sing for Him to help us prepare our bodies for Him...

But I got to tell you, readers, nothing makes our bodies so intimately ours to consider than when it is aging...and, oftentimes...hurting...a lot! Sure, when we were young, most of us would be bothered by something that was quickly over and we would go back to our daily routines...  It is so much harder to see a young child become seriously ill, isn't it... because it's not what we expect to happen...

But aging? Everybody gets that disease! It may come in different flavors--pains and aches in one spot versus where it is in another's body...But, somehow, it is a comfort that we are not alone in the process our bodies are facing. And from Janet Cameron Hoult, we get some sound advice on how to handle it...Smile through it and even laugh if you can! Her two books on the topic, in poetic form, does a great job in leading our thoughts toward that goal... If you haven't read my review of Body Language, do click over after you finish with this article...

Body Parts:
A Collection of Poems About Aging

By Janet Cameron Hoult

I didn't find it surprising that this book was a winner of a Readers Favorite Award... Like I said earlier, we all have to face aging and it hits us early on or late, I guess partly due to heredity, but each of us can do things differently and affect how aging affects us...

Janet Cameron Hoult tells us to learn how to take it in stride... by simply mastering the pain and anguish and laughing at it! Of course, that isn't easy to do, but I'll wager that if you keep one of Hoult's books laying around...maybe in the throne room where we must all ponder our lives alone and most times in silence... that something within the book will hit home and before you know it, you'll be smiling! Maybe even a chuckle or two!

When I was heading out to get a pic of the cover, I found this blurb description on Amazon...in poetic form! Cool, right?!

BODY PARTS A Collection of Poems about Aging

Which body part will be the next
To make you think that you're a wreck
That you've gone so far over the hill
All you can do is take a pill

But wait! There's something else to try
Something to make you laugh, not cry
It won't add insult to injury
For it's a book of humorous poetry

Poetry designed to help us cope
To make us laugh, to make us hope
And remember that we have lots of "Heart"
Even if we're missing some "Body Parts"

So, pick up a book, find a comfortable chair and laugh along with the author and her poetry about our changing body parts - loss of hair, sight and hearing as well as knees, legs and some internal organs! These poems will tickle your funny bone and help you to remember that although we may be growing old there's life in us yet!

Great enticement for checking out the book, isn't it?! And I will promptly add my high recommendations to each one of you, no matter what your age! Why, I've even found it inspiring enough to create my own little poem, to be sung to the tune of Sanctuary...Hope you don't mind my sharing!

Lord Prepare me.

To accept this body

Old and slowly falling away..

With thanksgiving,

I thank you truly for

sending Janet's inspiration my way...

Lord, somehow you

Gave her needed strength to

Encourage us with humor to laugh

May we find 

Our own way to laugh, Lord

Then to rest with thee...evermore...

~~~

Ok, I admit it, having to deal with my own body issues makes this a much more noteworthy book for me than for maybe some others... But I know there are many others out there who need to feel that somebody's there with you during your periods of being down and depressed... Let Janet Hoult help you through those times... Here's one that brought me a smile...

Have You Seen My Glasses?

Have you seen my glasses?

I know they're here somewhere.

I've already looked in the kitchen

And checked out the lazy boy chair.

Do you think the dog has snagged

Them and hidden them in his bed?

They shouldn't be too hard to find

With frames that are bright, bright red.

Please help me try to find them,

Your eyes are better than mine.

I've looked all over and really don't want

To waste any more time.

You're saying to look in the mirror

And my glasses will be there?

Well isn't that really something,

They they are nestled in my hair?

Thanks for your help in finding them,

Perched on top of my head.

Now I can see to get things done

And not have to work blindly instead.

!!!

Some of you may remember a posted statement of mine to show the humor I had found in this situation...Actually, mine includes more than glasses...it's keys, tea cup...anything I carry from room to room! Anyway, my response to myself to make it less frustrating was:

I've found a good thing about my constantly losing things in my home--my doctor wants me to walk more, so I'm doing what he wants while I wander from room to room trying to find the latest item that I mindlessly placed wherever I last was! LOL - we all have to adjust, don't we?!

Now if you don't mind talking about  every little thing that your body can do to betray you, here's another one that will hit home for women of all ages!

Leaky Pipes

Gone are the days

When I laughed with ease

And chuckled at jokes

Without crossing my knees.

I wish I could bend

Over with grace

And not have to squeeze

The trickle in place.

Oh muscles what happened?

I would like to know.

I want to control

When I need to go!

!!!

Now this little problem has plagued me for years...I even went to a specialist to have those spectacular all-knowing tests... At the end, I learned my bladder didn't evacuate! LOL...OMG... They had put me in a room which was at least 400 square feet... In a lone corner of a room was a toilet and wash basin...Nothing more in the room...Except one other door! Well, you could tell that it obviously opened up into another exam room and I automatically imagined that anybody could come through that other door at any time! Now tell me, would you have waited until your "bladder" was completely empty under those conditions? You guessed it, I never went back...Who was I to explain that their facilities did not allow the privacy that every woman needs to "empty her bladder completely!" Specialist? I didn't think so...

Another doctor told me I should practice Kegels...Do you know that that means? Well, here's Janet Hoult's thoughts on the matter!

Repair Job

Kegels and exercise

Don't do the trick

So, I'm off to the doctor

To get myself fixed.

A snip and a tug,

A mend of a tear,

My doctor has done it.

She's made a repair!

So tell me a joke

Something funny and rare.

I don't lead anymore

I can laugh without care!

~~~

Responsive poetry by me...

Dear Janet, oh Janet, 

you certainly are brave!

If I was much younger,

I just might have caved

When and if a doctor said,

She'd snip and tug, mending a tear

But, now, at my age,

I've accepted my lot,

It just doesn't sound

like a surgery I'd want!

Actually, I've heard many opinions

All different it seems

My mind is at ease...

Leaky Pipes-- 
now, a pit stop, PLEASE!

!!!

Ok, it's obvious, I've enjoyed both humorous collections on the topic of aging by Janet Cameron Hoult... I hope I've convinced you that there's joy and fun in commiserating with another who's just as frustrated with the whole mess as the rest of us!

Highly Recommended!

GABixlerReviews




About Janet Cameron Hoult

Janet Cameron Hoult, Professor Emerita at California State University, Los Angeles, has lived and traveled all over the world. She attended high school in Iran, and universities in Lebanon, France, and the United States, with teaching assignments in Germany, Korea, Japan, Thailand, and China. Now in her seventies, Dr. Hoult and her husband, Charley, live in Southern California. Her poetry collection Body Parts: A Collection of Poems about Aging, also published by Outskirts Press, won a Reader’s Favorite Award. Proceeds from the sale of Body Language and Body Parts will go to the David Cameron Fisher Memorial Scholarship at CSULA.