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fostering the humanistic practice of medicine publishing personal accounts of illness and healing encouraging health care advocacy

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A Cascading, it is

to watch his memory falter,
               fail. Light fades and falls. Dark
to watch his memory falter –
                             Cans of beans: gone. Toothpaste.
                             A shoe, bills, a sister –
to watch his memory falter,
fail. Light fades, and falls dark.

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"On Being Different"

Steve Wilson’s poetry has appeared in journals and anthologies nationwide, as well as in six collections, the most recent entitled Complicity (Finishing Line Press). He lives in San Marcos, TX, and teaches in the MFA program at Texas State University.

About the Poem

“Employing the triolet form, the poem considers the mysterious movement of an aging mind as memories fragment and sometimes disappear. I have had to watch this loss occur in my father over the past several years, and poetry–particularly formal poetry–offers a place where some structure and comfort can be discovered. My father passed away in late September.”

Comments

4 thoughts on “A Cascading, it is”

  1. I guess I am odd but I don’t cotton to poems (or other writings) that show the failings (usually citing embarrassing incidents) of parents in decline. Why not say something about how great he was when things were better for him? I hear this story told repeatedly, in one form or another, although usually it is women telling the story of their almost dead fathers. Could it be they are getting back at them? Who needs it over and over again?

  2. Henry Schneiderman

    A great poem, deeply touching, spare, clear and widely resonant. Thank you for this memento of your father and of the infinite cruelty and loss that dementia takes.

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