Alzheimers

I visit my mother twice a week and each time
she complains that my dad, her ex-husband
now deceased, bothers her at night
and won't leave her alone.

I ask her, " Other than that,
how have you been?"
she stares over my shoulder
and points to a picture of me with my kids

then tells the same stories
about how she lost all her sons;
one in childbirth, one to heroin
and one to a winter's flu.

“You’re a nice old lady," she sighs,
"but have you seen my daughter?
She hasn't come to visit for a very long time."

I don't know if I'm more upset because
she didn't recognize me
or because she thought I looked old.

From a conversation with my cousin in memory of my aunt.
picture photo shopped by bill