Unaccustomed Though I Am to Public Speaking…

By Marguerite Bladen

" Laced with gentle satire and personal confession, this is a collection of verses offering glimpses into six decades of living in two cultures, those of northern England and southern California. Verse forms vary from imitative rhymed sonnet and tetrameter to contemporary flowing freeform. Each poem is introduced with a brief note linking it directly to the authors unique experience."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abbott Press
• Release date: Nov 13, 2012
• ISBN: 9781458206596

Marguerite Bladen

I have just finished reading "I See You Made an Effort" by Annabelle Gurwitch, which is about facing the trauma of turning fifty. This is a pretty funny book despite its rueful tinge of self-mockery, but it has just hit me! I myself have turned eighty, and not only that, I am halfway to turning ninety—and this is not funny at all! First I should let you know that eighteen months ago, at the age of eighty-three, I made the decision to enter into a facility of the kind known as a "Continuing Care Retirement Community" because I was finding increasing difficulty in managing housekeeping, grocery shopping, preparing meals, etc., and most dire, my mobility was diminishing at an alarming rate. It was not that I could not perform those activities but rather that they were requiring an increasing effort, obviously not likely to become easier.

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