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Lisa Dordal is the author of the poetry collections Mosaic of the Dark; Water Lessons, a Lambda Literary Most Anticipated Book for 2022; and Next Time You Come Home, a Lambda Literary Most Anticipated Book for 2023. A recipient of an Academy of American Poets University Prize, as well as the Robert Watson Poetry Prize, she holds both an MFA in poetry and an MDiv from Vanderbilt University, where she is a writer in residence. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

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Dementia Bus

by Lisa Dordal
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The glasses they give me
darken my vision, blur it

into shapes I can’t immediately
recognize. I’m supposed to


set the table for breakfast,
write a check for the electric bill,


put on the brown jacket—
not the blue jacket—


and sort the shirts in the laundry basket—
long sleeved from short.
People on couch
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