I think this poem itself is like the "eerie icing of flourescent" (what a poetic image!). At first I heard it as the voice of some narrator to the condition, which wasn't very satisfying, but then I began to hear it as the voice of the Alzheimer's patient himself. Much better that way, I think. The is a jarring contrast to something like "The Notebook". I also this summer read Still Alice, a novel by Lisa Genova, who is a neuroscientist and an Alzheimer's researcher. It's not as much of a tearjerker as "The Notebook". More like a daily diary of a person progressing with the disease. There are some powerful lines here. At first, I wasn't sure who or what the devil was in the final stanza. I thought it could be Alzheimer's itself, but it's not being "kept away", so that didn't seem to make sense. But then, maybe it does. Doesn't the Alzheimer's itself keep you from the realization that you are losing yourself? Thus the "innocence/of brutal stupidity", a merciful irony. I have never worked with Alzheimer's patients, but I don't think it's necessary. Anyone can understand the terror of losing your own essence. Even children understand in some innocent way.
Glad you went with that point of view-that is what was intended, though the poem weaves a kind of collective feeling of being without history--except for a history of running after stupid pop philosophies-- with the singular experiences of several victims of the disease. the final stanza is meant to convey your loneliness is so total that even the devil wont keep you company... Yeah...I think children do understand in some ways
