Memories

The beautiful quote from Rilke that opens 'Love & Loss' translates 'nostalgia' as 'longing':

Oh longing for places that were not
Cherished enough in that fleeting hour,
How I long to make good from afar
The forgotten gesture, the additional act!

I wonder if it isn't more complicated than simple longing? Nostalgia is bittersweet. When writers raid their memories of places and people, it's not always the happy ones that produce the best work. Time has a way of smoothing out the wrinkles of reality - perhaps it's a survival mechanism, to remember only the best, or the most vivid of our experiences. In uncertain times, it is reassuring to look back. We are surrounded by comforting echoes of the past - look at the current popularity of Cath Kidston, and DAB radios housed in old Roberts' casings.

As I drove through the valley this morning, I passed a glorious cornfield full of vivid red poppies. It reminded me of visiting Arnhem on my fifteenth birthday and seeing heartbreaking fields of white crosses, dotted with red poppy wreaths; it also reminded me of pressing poppies between blotting paper as a child, the dried petals like fine silk. Rilke famously adored roses. This morning a poppy triggered some interesting notes, and a new story line for the next book. What makes you feel nostalgic?