Featured Poet - James Aitchison
FOUR POEMS ON DEMENTIA ...
POEM 1
Who are you?
Do you know?
Can you tell me?
Why are you sitting on the floor?
Did you fall?
Don’t you remember?
How long have you been there?
You don’t know?
Can’t you remember your name?
I understand:
you do not belong here.
~
POEM 2
The fog has claimed her.
See how her eyes are glazed,
she has slipped out of reality.
Where she is now,
no one can reach her.
She is in a maze, a confusion of
passageways that lead
nowhere and everywhere.
Deep in her brain, reality
has retreated, folded over,
been forgotten.
~
POEM 3
Life, being old,
is too uncomfortable.
Where I am now
is beyond trouble.
Who can harm me when
I am not here?
I am not a burden.
I am somewhere safe,
in my own company,
and the shadows are friendly,
and I am at peace.
~
POEM 4
Tell me your story.
It matters.
Yes, it does.
You have lived these ninety years,
and your story is woven with
a war, a career, family, children.
Don’t you want us to
share your life?
Or has it been a disappointment?
Is that why you are hiding
in the dark?
Is that why you do not want
anyone to find you?
Can you eat your dinner now?
Please don’t fall asleep chewing.
ABOUT JAMES
James is an Australian author and poet. He has notched up 203 published books, 121 short stories, 83 essays and more than 600 poems in Poetry for Mental Health, Australian Poetry Anthology, Aesthetica, Quadrant, Australian Children's Poetry, Adelaide Literary Journal, Literary Yard, and many others. As James Lee he wrote more than 130 children's horror books which became the Netflix series Mr Midnight: Beware the Monsters. He fervently believes we should live our best older lives, enjoy the discovery of new places, new poetry, new food and wine. Having seen dementia’s effect on those close to him, he is passionate about the need to stave it off through keeping fit, being creative, learning a language, having friends, and — above all — staying curious!
