Astral Travel

(Thoughts on my mother in advancing senile dementia, aged 87 years.)

Astral Travel.

My mother has been taken by aliens , at least, thats what i suspect.

She thinks they must be coming at night

Something has stayed on in her place. They must think she wont notice if the do it gradually

Twisted , stretched and tucked into her translucent, parchment skin ..she thinks it sticks out like dog-balls

She says herself she doesn’ t feel herself. 

You can tell by the nostrils; huge shafts of darkness going

up into where they’ve been getting in and out.

And the way she picks herself with chipped, yellow-ridged nails 

Tells me that she’s isn’t comfortable  in there.

And it eats..heaps,.. everything it sees, with no sign  

of recognition or gratitude, let alone enjoyment.

As if it  has to store energy, gather strength for a journey. Powered by toast and jam.

I think, looking back, that my mum had been packing for this  

trip for ages.

She must have known. I wish she’d said.

I hope, wherever she is, whenever she gets there that she enjoys the trip.