The
Writer's Voice
The World's Favourite Literary Website
Violet Shades
by
Rusty Broadspear
A hand full of years ago
I moved into
Violet Shades Rest Home.
I like it here
I just don’t like the company
Because I’ve lost some of my mind
You see.
I am aware of this,
And sometimes
My thoughts take a stroll
Or stride a strut
Eventually rolling into
A sticky, muddy rut.
Once, I had a life,
I was a wife,
But he’s long gone,
Deader than a Pharaoh's finger nail.
Had three daughters
Got two now.
Mary who was childless
Was a victim
Of drunken driving,
She was the driver.
Jennifer had two kids,
Alice had three.
So that’s five Grand Kids for me.
Think I’ve seen two,
Don’t know what they were,
But it’s good enough,
It’ll do.
Like in the war
Jack went abroad,
I’ve never been abroad
I like it here
Nothing to fear
Only the way they tend to leave.
Foods good, nothing to chew
He got shot in Italy
He told me in a letter
But I already knew.
Every bag full of days
They do my hair
There’s none on the top, plenty sides
And back.
A look in the mirror
Makes me laugh
Then I get wet,
It doesn’t smell
Perhaps I can’t tell
What the hell.
Sleep comes easy here
Trouble is
Not at night-time.
The noise them aeroplanes made
Made me nervous
And they were our planes.
I used to knit in here
But now my fingers are bent
Can’t remember
Where the straightness went.
I think one kid was
A boy called Rod,
After a singer
Poor sod.
Perhaps without my cataracts
I wouldn’t like this place so much.
I’d like to see the Sun
Curtains always drawn
To watch TV.
Trouble is nobody watches
They’re always asleep
Or staring into space
With drool on their faces.
Don’t feel so good today
Left my teeth in my bedroom
Could be a bonus,
Can grin and show my gums
To the nurse of doom
When she wheels in the pills.
Must go now then Jack,
This is only a mind letter,
I’ll get somebody to write it
It might read a lot better.
Critique this work
Click on the book to leave a comment about this work
