Challenging Poetry

slowing down

when I was young, Mama kept
the phone numbers
of every member of the church
in her head—the bishop called her
and asked before looking up
paper copies,

talking to Mama—was like
chasing a hummingbird, she knew
all the words and jumped from
meaning to meaning until
I was breathless trying to catch up,
until some strange correlation
of connotation turned me to
uncontrollable giggles,

and now—the worst feeling
is seeing the panic in her eyes
as she can't recognize what road
she's traveling on a route she
uses every day, or the frustration
when her speech pauses
and her words stumble and fail
for lack of memory.

Prompt: April 10—Memory