Here we are on the first Friday of the month and Inklings are spilling secrets. Catherine Flynn prompted us “Write a poem about secrets——family, community/societal, governmental, personal, etc. This could be a narrative (how the secret(s) started, where it or they led, the along-the-way and final (if any) consequences. For inspiration or starting blocks for your poem, here’s this poem, “Family Secret” by Nancy Kuhl: https://poets.org/poem/family-secret“
I found a way to write about my mother. It really isn’t a secret that she is living with Alzheimer’s. I’ve written about her before. But I hesitated to write about her. Is it disrespectful to the mother she used to be? I have discovered by revealing this secret, people are more open about their own struggles with the disease. I hope by telling my story with specificity, this poem/secret reaches out to the universal.
Dressing my Mother at the Memory Care Home
In my dreams, she’s at the kitchen table,
sipping black coffee. She’s reading, ready
for the day to come.My sister and I remove her oversized jacket–
daughters on either side coaxing
her arms free from brown suede.
“Is this Dad’s old coat?” my sister asks, pullingon the heavy cloth. We are caught
in a maze of arms and fabric,
confusion, undoing
a mistake of memory we can no longer hide from.
Mom stays silent.How does thinking work when words are gone?
Her eyes laugh at this silly game
Margaret Simon
we’ve urged her to play.
She giggles
looks to the dolls on the bed–
“How are you doing today?”
Visit other Inklings’ sites to hear their secrets, or not.
Catherine @Reading to the Core
Heidi @my juicy little universe
Linda @A Word Edgewise
Molly @Nix the Comfort Zone
Mary Lee @A(nother) Year of Reading
Reflections on the Teche 