Dementia
(for Sadie Ann)
by Jordan Taliha McDonald
memory is a pocketbook
filled with receipts
and no money
strawberry candies
turned hard with time
sweet without expiration
memory loss sounds like coins rattling
currency shuffling at the floor of a leather abyss
the leftovers of past transactions
yesterday is stuck in the lining of your purse
and life is filled with reminders,
history taunts you like school children do
and yet,
you are far too grown
to be teased
like this
everyone thinks you have forgotten yourself
that you left behind names and addresses
that you lost your grip on reality
they think you walked into a busy street
in search of time
but you are not on a quest for recovery
coherence is a place you no longer call home
instead, you recall love and loss and rage
all at once
you withdraw from accounts long overdrawn
you remember all the missed deposits
and disavow all debts
you need no report to know
you have been robbed
before