Last Notes Of A Stored Guitar Poem by Shirley Anne Alexander

My brother, Thomas, died of ALS (Lou Gherig's Disease) in 2005. He died in my care, on a home ventilator. He was a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War. He was gifted, musically, and was well known locally as a talented guitar picker. He was deaf, probably because his ears were damaged in VN, and from spending so many years in the music business. We communicated with a homemade message board. I grouped letters of the alphabet. I would point to a group, and then to the individual letter. He would blink-once for 'no', twice for 'yes'. It took awhile, but we 'talked' more than we had ever sat and talked together in our lives. He died thirteen days before his 56th birthday.
This is for Thomas.