- Keith Banner
Mary
mary has dementia
that is the way it goes
like her mother
but somehow worse
she fell at the dollar
store yesterday
had to go to the hospital
all her dreams got
lost somewhere
between
the dollar store and
the emergency room
let's not get
too sentimental
but really she was a dead-on
liz taylor lookalike
when she was young
voluptuously
making chocolate-covered cherries
stored overnight
in the refrigerator
to set
all her plans kind of
kept away from the world
by everything she wanted them
to be
and her husband
well it wasn't something we want to
really talk about
how do you make all of it go away?
that was in her eyes
most of the time, that need to make it all go away
in the 80s, 90s,
2000s and beyond
but she kept trying
and everything kind of collapsed
around her
until she needed
to collapse
at the dollar store yesterday
staying up at night
unable to sleep
speaking in tongues
and also maybe
singing
nut-job hymns
that make sense
once you live beyond
your life
and all your kids
either terrible disappointments
or ignoring you because
you love
them and
it gets into faulkner territory
every house she lived in
as a married lady
burned
to the ground
and yet
i remember her as
my aunt
who tried so hard to make things
nice
who wanted it all to
go away so she could replace it
with
carpets and pillows
and when it's over
she will be ok
when it is over
she will be
in her element
roses and
bibles
and violins
