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Annotated by:
- Coulehan, Jack
- Date of entry: Apr-08-2002
Summary
The poem begins, "In the beginning it visits / your mother like a polite / but somewhat unobtrusive stranger / whose silence . . . is vaguely disturbing." Later, Alzheimer’s is there all the time. Eventually, it takes over the mind and starts spreading disinformation. In the end communication breaks down. "There is no present . . . " There are only fragments of memories and "her dreamy knuckle clicking / on tables as if in answer to someone’s knocking." [32 lines]
Miscellaneous
Preface by Richard Wilbur
Primary Source
Sixty Years of American Poetry
Publisher
Henry N. Abrams
Place Published
New York
Edition
1996
Editor
Robert Penn Warren
Commentary