You Can Take "Shady Haven" And Shove It! …… [old Age Defiance! ; Privileged People; Humor; Medium-Long] Poem by Bri Edwards

Gloria had laid three husbands to rest, ….but she was … "going strong".
At least that's how she thought of herself, though others … thought her wrong.
Her sight in one eye was nearly gone; she needed shots for diabetes;
she'd fallen six times in four months; she was no longer … "Bruce Jenner", with his Wheaties!

"I'm only eighty-seven years old! What do you doctors ….know? "
AND "If you were as old as I am, don't you think you'd …
be a ‘little slow'? "

"I don't want to move out of my house. I've got a gal ….who cleans and cooks.
I've got my little greenhouse to care for, and a library …full of books!
Some of the books I've never read, and, sure, some i‘ll ……never read,
but many I HAVE read (some twice) , and for me they fill a …need.

"My neighbors (though most are new and we've not met) ….I'd miss.
The stately Elms and Weeping Willows! The Oaks ….
planted by my Sis!
My lily pond; the deer that come to drink; the birds I love ….to feed!
[Yes, the gardener feeds the birds FOR ME, when he's not pulling a weed.]

[Well, Readers, you get the idea. Gloria had money and ….didn't want to move.]
But the doctors and surviving kids and grandkids did ALL …approve ….
of the plan to move her to a fancy "retirement home". So …there!
Some legal-medical "hocus pocus" was used. You should ….have heard Gloria swear! !

So the house and most furnishings were sold. She got to take some books,
and some framed portraits of herself and her three ….husbands, ….to be hung from hooks …..
in her new home: a five-room "suite" in "Shady Haven",
in Beverly Hills.
[But no longer would SHE have control ….of her insulin …
OR her numerous pills.]

[After the ‘move']:

"They" (the staff) treated her with "kid gloves", but she ….had to "toe the line".
At least she had to behave herself enough …to "deserve" ….her evening glass of wine.
The director, of the "the home", came to visit her ……
one day, in Gloria's "library".
Gloria thought Dr. Sue Weiner was "nice", though the PhD's ‘upper lip' seemed hairy.
Doctor Weiner welcomed Gloria to her ‘new home', … and said she hoped she'd ‘love it',
to which Gloria answered somewhat haughtily: "You can ….take "Shady Haven" and shove it."

And then Gloria quickly added: "I may have only ……
one good eye, but I'll say this:
After I won my third Best Actress gold, most at the ….studios would kiss …..
my ass …or anything else I wanted kissed …., just to …
please me, and win my favor.
Those days are long past I'm afraid, but for many years I ….did savor ………THEM.

"I don't know all about this place, and I hope I never do. So there!
But I'll try to get along (I've not much choice) . I'll try to ….treat you square.
I hope you'll come and visit me again in a few weeks. Do ….say you will.
But now I guess I'd better excuse myself. The nurse is due with my next damn pill."

[Doctor Weiner winked at Gloria and then ‘let herself …… out'.]


(January 17, 2016)