Written by Sharisa Aidukaitis
we didn’t have the heart to tell her
that her ‘world-famous’ sweet rolls
were too salty that day; let her have
this little victory, we thought—she was
still so embarrassed about leaving the
stove on all night—a moment of success
before the amyloid plaques disintegrate
the mind we told our deepest secrets to,
vanquish the intellect that taught two
generations of squirmy kids to read,
immobilize the limbs that won countless
triathlons and summited snow-capped peaks;
so we swallowed the sweet rolls and smiled
and answered the same questions over
and over and hugged her a little longer
than usual before we drove home
and the next day her caretaker told us
she had tasted her own rolls that night
and thrown them in the trash in a fit of rage
.
Sharisa Aidukaitis is a writer and college educator in upstate New York. Her poems have appeared in numerous print and online journals, including Penstricken, Moss Piglet, The Quarter(ly), Metphrastics, Sublimation, and others. She loves nature, music, and all things chocolate.