The Poem Alzheimer´s by Kelly Cherry The Fickle Voice...

During the course of a person’s life, a decision is made as to which direction their life should follow. Most people are encouraged by their loved ones to make this choice for themselves. When Kelly Cherry was twelve, she announced to her musically devoted, string quartet violinist parents that she was going to quit piano lessons and become a writer, in response, â€Å"[her] mother said that she would rather kill [her] than have [her] turn out like [her] big brother, a beatnik. She ran to the kitchen to get [a] butcher knife† (â€Å"Kelly Cherry†). Needless to say, she was not supported in this career path. Throughout the course of her early writing career, she would hear that she â€Å"had no talent for writing† (â€Å"Kelly Cherry†). Still, she continued to write, occasionally quitting again and again, like a smoker, only to pick it up again (â€Å"Kelly Cherry†). Continually she told herself, â€Å"You are not a writer† until one da y she revised this to, â€Å"If you don’t write your books, no one else will† (â€Å"Kelly Cherry†). In the poem â€Å"Alzheimer’s†, Kelly Cherry has written about her father. It begins with an old man trying to make sense of the things around him. He is obviously confused, but tries to hide it. She writes that he carries with him, â€Å"A book he sometimes pretends to read† (Line 5). The man seems to identify with the struggle of the flowers as they fight for space on the brick wall, just as he is struggling with reconciling this house with the one he remembers (Lines 6-7) (15). Alzheimer’s