Tipton Poetry Journal
Alzheimer’s Accessories
Jill Michelle after Aleksandr Blok
Cellphone, keys, wallet, hat— things we’d have to find before Friday lunch dates in the years that tracked his decline from father back to child, who can’t go alone to the restroom, needs you to read the menu, remember the way home, remind him to grab his hat and keys. Jill Michelle's latest poems appear/are forthcoming in Hawai`i Pacific Review, LEON Literary Review, New Ohio review, Red Flag Poetry, and Drunk Monkeys. Her poem, “On Our Way Home,” won the 2023 NORward Prize for Poetry. She teaches at Valencia College in Orlando, Florida. Find more of her work at byjillmichelle.com.
My Neighbor’s Father Died
Claire Scott Her hair, normally pure perfection, is frowzy with split ends. her glitter-green nails chipped and gnawed. black eyes stare from the bottom of a well. she wears shabby sweats and soiled slippers to the grocery store, returning with an empty bag draped over a pencil-thin arm. I notice the plants on her porch are turning brown, newspapers piling up.
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