Poetry as a means of negotiating Alzheimer's disease and other dementia-related diseases

book review:

Kakugawa, Frances H. Breaking the silence: the voice of the caregiver. Nevada, California: Willow Valley Press, 2010.

Despite the remarkable achievements in science and technology, the problems of human life and destiny have not yet ended, and the solution has not been seriously affected by scientific knowledge. Alzheimer's disease currently affects approximately 10% of people over the age of 65 and 50% of those over the age of 85 and is currently incurable. As many as 5.3 million Americans currently suffer from this devastating disease. According to one study, the number of Alzheimer's patients in the United States may increase to 14 million by the end of 2050 unless new treatments are developed to reduce the likelihood of Alzheimer's disease.

Reading this background, Frances Kakugawa's book, a mix of poetry, stories and practical guides, is an acknowledgement of the services provided by professional and voluntary organizations that aim to minimize the suffering of Alzheimer's patients and their closeness and dearness. s pain. Those ones. It pays tribute to caregivers who have been working hard to create a world free of dementia, stroke or cancer, just as it tries to help them endure countless care crises.

Breaking the silence: The caregiver's voice blends the experiences of Frances Kakugawa and her poet's colleagues with a broad human perspective, incorporating thoughts and hearts. Nursing staff want to be grateful and share their compassion with all those who help Alzheimer's patients negotiate their spiritual vacancies. Not only do they realize the massive loss of their brain cells, or their ability to think, remember, reason, and imagine, or their language problems and unpredictable behavior, the loss of confusion or sensory treatment, they also know that Alzhai How do victims of Mohs disease suffer from a living death and become a body that is only deprived of humanity. They have witnessed the increasingly confused and helpless patients who care for family members who often become angry and tired victims of the disease:

"Is she raising my mother?
from

Is dementia raging in my heart?
from

Or is this really my mother? I do not know. "

['More daughter and mother's one ']

with

"I struggled between two factions that needed it.
from

Mom doesn't know, daughter pushes all boundaries
from

Both of them are out of control. "

['Sandwich']

For Frances Kakugawa, care is a mission, even though the memory and image of her Alzheimer's mother is still "loud" in her life. She voices to many caregivers who have been worried that their loved ones will not even be able to complete the simplest tasks and/or rely solely on others to look after them. She expressed her fear of death:

"Is she breathing? Is she alive?
from

She finally left, released me again?
from

I continue my sentinel watch. "

[' Unspoken morning ']

Francis not only expressed their fear, but also learned to negotiate by boldly using it as part of life. In fact, she regards the metaphor of death as an indispensable part of life, whether it is "empty pain", "unrealized dream" or "inanimate moment". In her silent silence, she explores the meaning of life:

"The second gust
from

Raise another ashes.
from

Listen quietly. "

['Wind Song ']

It hears inner silence, a meditation, bible and spiritual thing. It awakens the self, the Holy Spirit, the divine self. When the soul reaches silence, humanity becomes sacred. She sounds very serious and lives in harmony with the highest ideals, no matter how confusing the personal experience. As Setuko Yoshida is in ' Can I? ' said:

"Francis's poem this morning.
from

Reveal the feelings of ' sacred '
from

care. "

In fact, as a female poet, Frances Kakugawa and her caregiver colleagues [Elaine Okazaki, Linda McCall Nagata, Eugene Mitchell, etc.] present a feminine and very humane view of dementia-related diseases. Jason Y. Kimura, Rod Masumoto and Red Silver, although male poets, showcased the sensitivity of other influential carers 'Prakriti' or'Yin&#39 ;aspect. They have differently turned Alzheimer's disease into a metaphor for language loss, memory loss and speech loss. Their poems are usually short and personal, insightful, and a means of conveying the loss of affection, love, dignity, honor, fame and relationship; in short, their isolation, or threats to life itself:

"I have been alive all my life.
from

Crayon with one hand,
from

Fill the space,
from

The space left by lovers, family, friends,
from

Leave my crayons on the wall
from

More sad than art. "

[' Vacancies ']

They also use metaphors to challenge survival, existence, and no fear and anxiety:

"I am a woman,
from

inhibition,
from

death".

['Nissei female']

with

"I am not just a paradise, humans and the earth.
from

Rooted in the hands of culture.
from

Sift the sand. Yes!
from

I am free!
from

I was blown down by the wind.
from

I took off my kimono.
from

I stretch my legs.
from

I am free. "

[' Lesson 3 ']

with

"When I was 88 years old
from

I am still a woman,
from

Yes! "

['' When I was 88 years old ']

with

"I am still here
from

Help me keep a person
from

In this woman's outer shell, I became.
from

In my silent world, I am still here.
from

Oh, I am still here. "

[' Emily Dickinson, I am someone ']

They turned Alzheimer's disease into thoughts, thoughts and attitudes that sought reprogramming to overcome irreversible pain and helplessness. As Francis said very strongly: this is looking for

"...the same umbilical cord
from

Once let me be free
from

Pull back now and pull me back
from

It was where I started.
from

Must be hidden
from

Somewhere a gift is very sacred
from

On this journey. "

[' mother into the child, the child into the mother']

When they express a search for the whole, they are true to themselves. They empathize with their natural kindness, trust and compassion to create a "symphony of truth." The core of their meditation is the desire to integrate into oneself, living in time and eternity:

"What other paths are there?
from

In addition
from

Love, kindness, compassion,
from

Help me find a small part of myself
from

This makes me smile
from

Bring me so quiet happiness
from

At the end of each day. "

['Bless the Holy ']

They reveal the role of the original impulse of the human soul, which transcends differences in race and geographic location. In short, they vented the thoughts of everyone on all the land.

As poet carers, they respond to their tensions, fears and anxieties through introspection and adapt to their inner and outer conflicts, pains and celebrations through imaginative insights. They reflect a wide range of social or family situations and their own personal status, and their perceptions often differ from those of male poets [or male caregivers]. Their pursuit is against the real reality of corruption, poverty, insecurity, helplessness, anonymity and death. They look for life and realize the skin around them, spirit - mental stress, moral dilemma, betrayal and paradox:

"Why do you say that I am sacrificing myself?
from

a good year in my life
from

In order to take care of my mother,
from

When should it be no secret
from

I am really alive
from

To some extent I have never lived?
from

...
from

No, this is not a sacrifice.
from

This is only reality.
from

I am really alive
from

In a way, I have never lived.
from

My living love. "

[' I know ']

Against the complexity of experience, they demonstrate a relationship between values ​​such as love, faith, truth, tolerance, patience, peace, charity, harmony, humility and health. They tend to intuitively think and/or turn to the individual, the heart, the spirit, or the God, without indulging in intellectual abstraction. They write with a poetic sensibility. Their metaphors and images reflect their inner landscape and their response to external observations or experiences. Their verbal expressions are often silent, and the inner vibrations touch or enhance the reader's senses. When they create their own words as caregivers, they also sound to their families, families, children, mothers and neighbors, often expressing their own vision and understanding, across cultures and regions.

Even if they are affected by Alzheimer's disease, they will seek to surpass their physical or feminine temperament and respect women. They turned inward, revealing their individuality and universality in different roles such as mother, wife, daughter, etc., and felt when trying to understand "who am I?" or "how should I live, how should I live" The pain of the spirit is ", or" what am I looking for? Why am I coming? "

When they look back or reflect their present, they also express the need for a strong sense of unity of inner conflict, spiritual hunger, loneliness or dependence. They sound challenge to Alzheimer's disease itself:

"Although we forgot, you can't rob us.
from

Although we can't write, you can't erase us.
from

Although we can't talk, you can't be silent.
from

Story, laughter, past moments
from

Entering their ranks, you can't steal
from

Enter a silent night. "

['嘿Alzheimer's ']

Despite the challenges of failure, they are filled with hope for the aging of elegance and dignity, but they create another motivation and impulse for social action on a very personal level:

"Through this darkest night
from

I will catch the light
from

Eliminate all your fears.
from

Just know that I will be nearby forever. "

[' Give me a mother']

People are eager to change their situation or to live in peace with themselves. The poets and caregivers of Breaking the Silence seek to create a new culture because they rationalize our future lifestyle.

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