Anniversary

I've been thinking about my Mum this week as 26th April is her anniversary. 

She died four years ago but it seems like it could have been last week - time is a strange old thing. 

On Easter Sunday I discovered Elizabeth Spires and among her poems I found Like Water which is painfully moving - so straightforward and what a powerful way to describe the grieving process.

Then a book arrived this morning that I ordered last week - Sparrow Tree by Gwyneth Lewis. Mslexia has invited submissions of reviews, this was on the list, so I thought I'd have a crack at it. 

Over the last four years of my mother's life we gradually lost her, as a degenerative illness impaired both her physical abilities and thinking processes. 

I flicked through what seems to be a great collection by Gwyneth Lewis and this poem called out

Field Guide to Dementia

To see you is egret,

No, red kite high

On a thermal,

Holding your hand

Is wagtail, comfort.

I think some cuckoo's laid

An egg of darkness in my head.

Words have migrated,

I forget their calls.

But I still point,

Look! Dowitcher, possibly

Lapwing. Quite.

Gwyneth Lewis

from Sparrow Tree (Bloodaxe)