Psychedelic memories

/ Su Leslie

Bush walk trippy. Image: Su Leslie 2019

I was probably about eight or nine the first time I heard the word ‘psychedelic’. My dad brought home a poster that he thought I might like for my room. I don’t remember what it was a poster of — just that it was wildly colourful and my mother vehemently disapproved of it.

Her disapproval was certainly due to the fact that it was wildly colourful, and therefore didn’t fit with the cream, beige and tan aesthetic she imposed on our decor.

She must have been losing the “discussion” with Dad about the suitability or otherwise of my poster, because I clearly remember her saying — in the sort of tone you’d use to if the neighbour was dealing drugs from his kids’ Wendy house — “it’s psychedelic.”

Image: Su Leslie 2019

Ragtag Daily Prompt | psychedelic

34 thoughts on “Psychedelic memories”

  1. So it is! I came from a rather poor family and shared a small room with two sisters. But boy, the upheaval when i received a torn out full page photograph by David Hamilton to hang up over my bed. Dad thought it was porn, unless he used another word, because I wouldn’t have known about that…. I remember that I couldn’t see his problem, it was a young girl not even a boy!!!!! Memories….

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      • Oh, yes – politics. I was about as far away from my parents on the political spectrum as possible. Their ‘mistake’ was sending me to Britain to live with my mother’s sister and family the summer I was 20. This was the early ’70s. I came back to the states in the fall, furious that the U.S., the richest country in the world at the time, couldn’t provide basic shelter and medical care for their citizens. I’m still incensed, almost 50 years later.

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          • Sadly, yes they are. All of Western Europe seems to be moving toward the alt right and trying to further disenfranchise the poor and people of color (often one in the same.) I won’t comment on the current madness here in the states; I would descend into a rant.

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  4. Oh wow, Su. What you have done to those strappy leaves is just fabulous. You could frame and sell those for sure. So good.

    As you know, I love bright colours. There is show on tele at the moment called “Escape to the Country”. Cashed up city folk wanting a tree change. They go into these beautiful country homes and their immediate reaction is often that a perfectly lovely (colourful) kitchen needs updating (to white). I can’t fathom it. However, I had a bright apple green feature wall in my teenage bedroom so that perhaps explains where I got my taste for colour. 🙂

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  6. Yes, it’s trippy! But fascinating, especially the story behind your first encounter with the word psychedelic. Our family homes had simple decor, dictated by income rather than style. My own homes tended to be bland but, lately, as you will have seen in some of my photos, I am in love with colour. The more the merrier.

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    • My mother had a huge need to put her stamp on each of the many houses we lived in. Her “stamp” involved redecorating in neutral colours and over-stuffing every room with ornaments of her choosing. Every new home “needed” new furniture whether we could actually afford it or not (generally not). I grew up to love colour and hate ornaments. Strangely I’ve lately begun to prefer black and white as my basic palette — with colour coming from textiles, art and ornament. 😬

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  12. Fortunately my mother was an obsessive decorator (can’t think where I get that from…) who was probably ahead of the times. Except she always painted my bedroom Dawn Pink, which was a very pale pink if I recall correctly. However when I became a teenager she did allow me to have one wall wallpapered in purple as long as the other three were yellow. It was a very small boxroom, but with my posters of Robert Plant and Ritchie Blackmore I was totally chuffed!

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