Kelly Cherry Alzheimers

The poem Alzheimer’s by Kelly Cherry, portrays a second person perspective of an old man suffering from a disease known as Alzheimer’s, an experience I can relate with to a degree. The reason I can relate to the poem Alzheimer’s through my personal experiences is caused by the fact my maternal grandmother currently suffers from Parkinson’s disease and my uncle’s mother who used to suffer a disease, that I believe to be Alzheimer’s or a disease similar to Alzheimer’s since the major symptom was memory loss. Parkinson’s disease, like Alzheimer’s, is a disease in which the nervous system is affected, but without memory loss and with more symptoms towards motor skills. I can relate to the speaker as he says “Roses and columbine slug it out for space, claw the mortar (A).” because the speaker

My uncle’s mother suffered from a disease, I’m not sure what it is, but similar to the speaker of the poem I was in a second person perspective because personally I didn’t know her very well, but could feel the sorrow in the people around her. The disease in which my uncle’s mother suffered from made her “live in the past” as she had almost no recollection of what was currently going on. Similar to the speaker saying “He remembers himself, / A younger man, in a tweed hat (A)”, as My uncle’s mother remembers herself when she was taking care of my uncle in his youth, since she would carry a large teddy bear around in which she treated like a baby. Along with remembering herself when she was younger, my uncle’s mother completely forgot her love or care for her family currently, as she lives in her own world. Similar to how the poem says “and sparks fly off, burning in the bushes-- /the rosebushes--(A)“, as roses refers to the flower of love and the fact that the sparks are burning the bushes shows the old man forgetting his love for his wife and possible his other