Poems about Dementia

Poem Explorer Poetry Archives

PDF Guide

Nationality: American

Themes: Death, Identity, Love, Relationships

Emotions: Compassion, Confusion, Empathy, Frustration, Grief, Sadness

Topics:

Dementia

Death of a Loved One, Loss

Form: Free Verse

"> 87/100

Bill’s Story

by Mark Doty

Mark Doty’s ‘Bill’s Story’ appears in his best-known poetry collection My Alexandria (1993). This poem is about the death of a speaker’s sister suffering from dementia and AIDS.

The poem does an impressive job at capturing the cruelty of diseases like dementia, which rob people of their most precious memories and with them, a part of themselves. Doty's poem is additionally heartbreaking because the condition was not well understood or even diagnosed in the 1970s and so the family had to deal with the stigma of Annie's condition as well as the condition itself.

When my sister came back from Africa,

we didn't know at first how everything

had changed. After a while Annie

bought men's and boy's clothes in all sizes,

The Old Fools

‘The Old Fools’ by Philip Larkin is a poem about what happens when one grows older and begins to forget about their life.

Larkin's poem engages with age-induced memory loss and portrays it as a terrifying experience. He goes so far as to suggest that people ought to be grateful that they have forgotten things because, if they were aware of how much of their lives they could no longer recall, it would drive them to despair. He also makes clear that everybody will experience memory issues to a greater or lesser degree.

What do they think has happened, the old fools,

To make them like this? Do they somehow suppose

It’s more grown-up when your mouth hangs open and drools,

And you keep on pissing yourself, and can’t remember

Equilibrium

Theresa Lola’s ‘Equilibrium’ is a phenomenal portrayal of decline in the face of what ought to be a family celebration.

While the grandfather’s mental decline is not directly stated as dementia, it’s easy to see he’s struggling with something that affects his memory and clarity. The final lines strongly suggest his mind is fading quickly, capturing the sadness of watching a loved one lose parts of themselves. This quiet detail adds a layer of reality to the family’s experiences with aging.

My new-born brother wailed into existence
and my grandfather's eyes became two stopwatches

counting down his own exit. After the naming ceremony
my grandfather was quiet as a cut open for autopsy.

I Worried

Oliver’s ‘I Worried’ traverses the landscape of anxiety, illustrating the futility of overthinking through a journey from fear to liberation.

While dementia is referenced in the poem, it is only one possible disease or condition in a long list which the narrator fears they might one day suffer from.

I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers

flow in the right direction, will the earth turn

as it was taught, and if not how shall

I correct it?

4 Important Dementia Poems

General

Poetry+

Discover

Useful Links

4 Important Dementia Poems

Bill’s Story

by Mark Doty

The Old Fools

by Philip Larkin

Equilibrium

by Theresa Lola

I Worried

by Mary Oliver

Narrow Your Search

We Look Deep into Poetry

General

Poetry+

Discover

Useful Links