Fred Aiken Writing

Tag: Alzheimer

The Thoughts My Dad While Relaxing on the Porch

Daniel tried remembering. He tried remembering the name of his daughter, what he had been doing for the past seventy years, how many times he had made love, and why he was forgetting everything. 

It all looked like an unstable slow-motion sequence of images embalmed in layers of scotch being captured on a closed-circuit television camera without his knowledge. He kept on scratching at a glimmer of constancy without any luck, pondering over why he had so many chins.

Daniel concluded that everything was written in invisible ink on a post-it note.

Come on, grandpa,” he heard. “We can’t stay here forever.

Growing Old

passed through in spring

to catch a glimpse of sepia escaping

through the lens of my folks listening

to Coltrane and awkwardly remembering childhood friends, while contemplating

a remainder divided by a dividend yet to pay out, cold

frost reaching limbic segments cut into fourths

and fed to whichever insurance company willing to pay a premium to the dead