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Recorded Reading (2:00): https://www.dropbox.com/s/2vyq52m5lyv2p00/Gracelessly%20Aging%20Maven.mp3?dl=0

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Gracelessly Aging Maven

I’ve got a right to be feisty
I hurt all over myself
Everyone fifty and younger
Keeps trying to put me
Back up on some shelf!

Oh, do you find me somewhat testy?
I’ve had all the bullshit I can
Serenely intake
In one significantly
Hyperextended lifespan

If I seem a little impatient
At your oh-so-lovely display
Of this or of that
For some feminine purpose
Well, I just can’t stand here all day

My hips and my back they are aching
My feet they are totally numb
Your voice in my ears
Is all overlaid
By some constant, anonymous hum

But, as they say, that is okay
Beause I have heard it before
And doubtless I heard it from somebody who
Lied better than you do,
What’s more

Your machinations are transparent
As through the most finely glazed glass
Hidden motivations
All clearly apparent
In these wise old peepers, my lass!

If fortune does favor the foolish
And you get to my age to be
We’ll see with my right
To be badly uptight
You don’t find you grow to agree

When people all look just like babies
And autos all seem just the same
Many modern words
In each conversation
The meanings of which you can’t name

As if that’s not enough, your back’s bent in half
And feels every bit of it, too
Don’t go anywhere
Because people stare
And folks have to slow down for you

Not even to mention, upon your return
From every side trip to the toilet
Your feeble relief
Comes swiftly to grief:
Another trip comes up to spoil it

Yes, I’ve earned the right to be crabby
Be crabby late and crabby soon
As long as I’m having to listen
To juvenile nonsense,
You little buffoon!

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This poet is physically disabled. Public housing being insufficient to her medical and creative needs, she is presently living, in order to continue working, in her minivan, publishing all of her works using one thumb on the touch screen of her smartphone, surviving at an income of a fraction of her nation’s poverty level. She would treasure any donation you might care to offer ~ http://www.UgiftABLE.com ● #72D-31S.

Please be aware that it takes several days for the poet to be notified of contributions. International contributors please contact the poet via email or post a comment for the necessary numbers.

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