A guided tour of Jilliana
In celebration of her 70th birthday

Let’s start with her hats
Serendipity purchases from discerning shopping
Beneath the hat is her mind
Take a moment to examine it
Do not be distracted by the hat

A fulsome life full of tragedy excitement encounters
And that Diaspora of a writer’s mind
She expels her experiences in Memoirs
Marvellously mellifluously mellow with age and wisdom
Lodged in there are several languages
Beyond the one she speaks here and now
Eyes brown
They’ve observed a life
That hasn’t spelt out the way
She would have dreamed it
But it’s created her future
Her fortune and she laughs a lot
The smile beams and chuckles grins and bears it too

Now move with me to the clothing
An eclectic selection about which most of us would say
‘Oh I’m not sure how to wear that!’
But Jilliana does and knows
That her eccentric mind
Elegant train of thoughts and creative world
Is shown in her Voguish look

Shall we move now to her jewellery?
What a collection!
A selection from her global travels
How we’d love to rifle through her box
And play at dressing up
There’s gold silver jewels crystals
Symbolising her extravagant love of life
Each piece a story in itself
If only we had the time to listen!

We’ll finish with her feet
On which she stands 70 years tall and proud
Always appropriately attired
Flats and pumps and occasional boots
For when the weather isn’t so mild

And I’d just like to add a postscript
About her cat Neko
Who has his own stories
Of which we await Jilliana to pen
In a TS Eliot Style

All that remains now
Is for us to wish her
A very happy birthday

I hope you’ve enjoyed your tour


Louise Taylor
Performance Poet
Brighton

25.1.15