Aricept

By Rachel Mindell

Issue 41 • Spring 2020 • Poetry

When the neurologist asks
if he hallucinates, my father nods.
Yes all the time. This is new.
In previous appointments,
I have had to gently supply examples,
to not shame him but illuminate just so
for the sake of proper care. There is
no way to balance this. She advises
going without the memory
medicine for one week to see, then
moving it to the morning to see.
He nods. He does not see. He does not
want to do this because although
last night there was a snake in his bed
the night before it was my mother.

Rachel Mindell

Rachel Mindell is a writer and teacher living in Tucson. Her third chapbook was just released by Tammy. Individual poems have appeared (or will) in Black Warrior Review, Denver Quarterly, DIAGRAM, Foglifter, Sycamore Review, and elsewhere. She works for Submittable and the University of Arizona Poetry Center.