By Natalia Arreola, Nonfiction Editor
Welcome back for another Throwback Thursday Series!
This time, we will be remembering Floydd Michael Elliott's "Clouds Being Torn by Mountains" from DIN's first issue, published in 2010. This nonfiction story was one of Elliott's first work before his books The Horned Melon: Portland and The Cloud Can Die Now: A poetry collection about Fatherhood, both published in 2015. This ten-year remembrance captures Alzheimer's disease's reality, separated into four sections to relate the confusion and loss of memory of a person within the family and its influence.
In "Clouds Being Torn by Mountains," Poppy is introduced, an elderly man under the care of his wife who, with the help of their children, is admitted to a nursing home after several accidents where he tries to hurt himself. We have a bit of humor to lighten the weight of mental illness and not overwhelm the reader. We have section one, Confabulation, which introduces us to an older couple's peculiar routine where Alzheimer's condition isn't an option in their family yet. Recognition is the second part, where the harsh reality of deciding to seek help begins to cross their minds. This section shows how the family is affected by their perspective and how they try to digest it. Next, we have part three called Poppy's Ailment. Here is reflected the difficulties in Poppy's life and how the symptoms appear one after another. And finally, Recognition 2, where the urgency of taking measures to prevent accidents begins to be paramount in the family.
We invite you to relive this story with us one more time, not to be forgotten like Poppy. With this story, we can have a different perspective on what we want from our lives and how we will see ourselves in the future. Let us remember while we can and enjoy each story from the past as if it were our own.
Click the link down below to read "Clouds Being Torn by Mountains":
Natalia Arreola is one of DiN's nonfiction editors. She is studying English at New Mexico State University with a concentration in Creative Writing and a minor in Psychology. She is expected to graduate in the Spring of 2021. She is also an editor of a literary journal called Chrysalis and is part of the BorderSenses organization, located in El Paso, Texas. She aspires to become an editor for a publishing house and a successful YA fiction writer.
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