Alice Bent Over Poem by Donal Mahoney

A gathering of elders
from the local rest home
is out for a walk after dusk

on canes and walkers
admiring roses and lilies
and a pond of rainbow koi

except for Alice trailing
without cane or walker
whose head is bent over

at the neck so she sees
nothing but ants
scurrying around her.

Alice is the letter "L"
upside down forever.
She will never see the sun

light up the sky or the stars
glow in the night or the halo
of moonlight falling around her.