A Poem to My Mother That She Will Never Read
December 29, 2023: I've updated the original post so that my poem is now available to read and download. The poem recounts my lived experience of being a daughter whose mother is living interstate in the late stages of Alzheimer's disease during a global pandemic. In January 2022 I received an unexpected phone call from the the UK. I was in Perth staying with my brother and sister-in-law after having been released from hotel quarantine just a few days prior. The call was from the editor of Mslexia magazine. She told me that my poem 'A Poem To My Mother That She Will Never Read' was the winner of the 2021 International Mslexia Poetry Competition. It was the day before my mother's funeral. It was the first time I'd won an international literary prize. It's an understatement to say that is was one of the most magically bitter-sweet moments of my life. In the original post I'd linked to Mslexia, where you could read the poem. However, since Mslex...
