Rehab at the Florida Avenue Grill (Paperback)

by Veneta Masson (Author) "Standing at attention in the damp dawn of my novitiate I take down everything I need to know about his deteriorating condition scheduled labs and..." (more)
Key Phrases: Bobby Everybody, Maggie Jones

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A gift to the world of people who care." -- Marie Stoline, RN

From the Publisher
This nurse's poems make strong medicine and memorable stories! Like Langston Hughes' character, Sister Mary, poet Veneta Masson got her feet caught in the "sweet flypaper of life" during her 35 years as a nurse, particularly the 17 years she spent caring for "a motley assortment of patients, some of whom considered themselves family" in the rough and tumble Shaw neighborhood of Washington, DC.

According to Masson, each of the poems in her new book, "Rehab at the Florida Avenue Grill," contains a story. "These often began as conversations with my colleagues or journal entries written in celebration, sorrow, or frustration at the end of a day. Months or years later, when they had 'cooled off' enough to be worked into poems, they found their way into the annual reports of the small clinic where I worked and, one by one, into the literature of my profession." Soul food for caregivers and all who care about healing art, these poems are also a tribute to patients like "Aretha", who introduced her to a local institution, the Florida Avenue Grill, and taught her the real meaning of the term rehabilitation.

"Rehab at the Florida Avenue Grill," gracefully designed by new talent, Lisa Carey, is a 100- page paperback that includes favorites from Masson's earlier book, Just Who, which sold out its 2000 print run, mostly hand to hand.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: Sage Femme Press (September 7, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967368804
• ISBN-13: 978-0967368801
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,370,020 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deeply moving and real, December 28, 1999

By A Customer

When Mason says that her patients become poems, she's not kidding. Fortunately for the reader, this works both ways: the poems recreate the patients. And what a wonderful bunch they are! She's a talented writer, but she doesn't get lost in the art of the poetry. Her ear for what her patients say (and mean), and how she intertwines it in her work, is what makes it all so real and powerful. I'm thankful for the insight this little book has given me to the goings-on inside the hearts of patients and their nurses. Oh, and it's a beautiful little coffee-table book, too.

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful words for nurses, February 16, 2009

By	M. Faltynski (Colorado) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've bought 8 copies of this book because I keep giving them away to nurses who are important to me.