Summering
Nov 25 2023
Not what I did on summer vacation
but summering.
Said
in a mid-Atlantic accent
with patrician superciliousness.
Something rich people do
on private islands
and beach front property.
Who also winter in the tropics
at exclusive resorts,
jet-setting somewhere else
when they get bored.
This verbing of nouns
would also suggest springing and autumning.
Or, for the less fortunate, falling.
A hurtful word,
when the poor
are getting even poorer,
the middle class
taken down a notch.
Perhaps, in October, we're all homebodies,
a month of rest and replenishment
before winter starts.
No need for a verb
before a blazing fire
sipping hot ginger tea;
not when the sun sets
in late afternoon,
and even the dormant grass
isn't listening.
Any noun can be verbed.
Try it yourself
in this festive season
that begins with Thanksgiving,
runs through Christmasing,
and ends with midnighting
on the cusp of New Year's Day.
I encountered this word, and right away wanted to play around with it.
As a conservative when it comes to change in language (which, I admit, isn't how language works, and is about as useful as trying to stop the tide coming in!), I tend to turn my nose up at the rampant verbing of nouns; even though English is full of such words.
It's odd about “summering”. No matter what, I find I can't say it without falling into that supercilious med-Atlantic tone of voice. It's a word an average person of modest means would never comfortably use!
The poem doesn't really work. But is still kind of fun, and I can't bring myself to hit delete.
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