Weekly Read: “Dementia Unit for John Glenn” by Amy Rothschild
BLR’s Weekly Read brings you one outstanding story, poem, or essay from our archive. This week’s read is “Dementia Unit for John Glenn” by Amy Rothschild, which won BLR‘s John & Eileen Allman Prize for Poetry in 2024, selected by judge Melissa Lozada-Oliva.
Want your Weekly Read sent straight to your inbox? Subscribe here to receive our newsletters, including updates on events, issues, and more.
At sunrise I peel off our young astronaut’s
blue-striped pajamas and coach him
through suiting up for his next mission.
You toss a pale bagel onto his plate,
do some hand-waving around
the problem of gravity.
Glenn says no-go to the potty but we say go–
go- go! and begin counting down.
Why this poem?
“‘Dementia Unit…’ made me well up, which selfishly, I think all poems should do. A gorgeous juxtaposition of potty-training a child at the beginning of life while recalling a father’s mind slowly deteriorating, tied together with the metaphor of landing on the moon.”
– Melissa Lozada-Oliva,
2024 Allman Prize for Poetry judge
More from Amy
Amy Rothschild has published poems in Tupelo Quarterly and ONE ART, and essays in the Atlantic and Dissent. A former preschool and kindergarten teacher, she holds a BA in English from Yale University and an M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education from Lesley University. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Learn more about Amy on her website.
In 2024, BLR assistant poetry editor Saleem Hue Penny sat down with Amy after she won the John & Eileen Allman Prize for Poetry. Listen to their full conversation, prefaced by Amy’s reading of “Dementia Unit for John Glenn.”
