Dementia or Poorly Selected Books?

Is it my brain or is it the book?

My brain has been a source of worry these past few months because there are a dozen books I’ve purchased with bookmarks in the first third of each book.    I didn’t even finish the last two selections of my book club and they were no Nora Roberts.  Is this the first lunge into dementia?  Is my brain interfering with one of my great passions in life?  Or could the source  be poorly selected books?

I didn’t need a neurologist to tell me the slightly manufactured Frances truth. Mark Arax, Charles Pellegrino  and Linda Urbach took me through their books to the last page without long pauses to prove that those Amyloid Plaques and Tangles have not become uninvited guests. Not yet.

Linda Urbach’s easy to read novel, “Madame Bovary’s Daughter” led me to reread Emma Bovary by Flaubert.

Rereading  Pellegrino’s earliar books such as  ”Dust”  itched me all over, but  taught me to look at our six-legged critters through different lenses. I’m reading his earliar published books (” Return to Sodom and Gomorrah”)  as I impatiently wait for his new edition of Last Train from Hiroshima, a book that changed my life drastically. Pellegrino, in my opinion, is a master story writer and has affected my writing deeply.  My review of Pellegrino’s various books are on my blog.

Mark Arax’s “In My Father’s Name” is a must read, folks, for story told and how it’s told.  His  friendship with William Saroyan as a youngster,  reminded me of the first adult book I read as a kid…My Name is Aram by Saroyan. Is it coincidence that Mark’s grandfather was Aram Arax?  “My Name is Aram” is now on my reading list. I added the following review on Arax’s book on Amazon.com. with slight editing.

A web of pure silk, July 5, 2012

By Frances H. Kakugawa
  

This review is from: In My Father’s Name (Paperback) …

Between the pages of this excellent book, I sent quotations from Saroyan to members of the Northern CA Publishers/ Writers. Imagine having a personal relationship with Saroyan. To my writing support group of caregivers, I sent quotations from his grandfather who suffered from dementia. One reader called it a “capsule of humanity.”  To a former resident of Fresno, I bought this book for her birthday. And for myself, I ignored housework and other to-do lists long after I read the last page. Arax is a craftsman  of language;  he weaves different time and historical periods, people, places into his search to dignify his father. Life is not linear in reality and this is carefully presented in the telling of his story. I paused often to relish the use of language.  I sit here stunned over the ugly life that is part of  Fresno’s history and in awe how Arax turned his story into an art form. At the end, he was the one on the white horse.

So for as long as there are well written books out there, I won’t worry about my brain cells. They definitely know good writing when they see it.

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Poetry Month: April

A Poet’s Declaration on Editing

This  poem has a special place in my heart. I wrote this while I was teaching third graders.

I had a special Editor’s Chair, a plush, red velvet, ornate arm chair that was used only  by writers who wanted their work edited by the class. This chair had quite a history but to shorten its history, it was donated to our class by Wayne Harada, the then Entertainment Editor of the Honolulu Advertiser  because we were both deeply involved in the state Children As Authors* program which was created by Dr Vi Harada. Whenever students wanted editors, they  would ask to sit in the Editor’s chair and we gathered at their feet to listen and critique.  We did a lot of writing in all subject areas and the reason might have been an opportunity to sit in the Editor’s Chair.

I took the chair one day to read my poem.  I expected an  unanimous nod because wasn’t I the teacher,  but one student said, “I like the poem to end at “I am! I am!” I would suggest that you drop the last four lines?” What???

(We were not allowed to use “ought” and “should” during our editing process because the final decision was the writers’ and we were not to impose our  ideas on any writer. We could only suggest.)

“Okay,” I said rather defensively, ” Let me read this again without the last four  lines. Then I’ll read the poem as I wrote it and let’s see what you think.”

I wasn’t play acting at this point. I was fighting tooth and nail for my poem. I read the original with expression and drama and sort of read the edited version without much flair.

“How many of you think I need to drop the last four lines?”

Without looking at each other, the majority of the class raised their hands. What? I have over- taught these kids!.  A couple of  loyal Kakugawa fans kept their hands  clasped on their laps.

“Okay,” I said, “Let me think about your suggestion and I’ll get back to you.”

I later showed  the poem to a professor friend and he said, “The kids are right. You’re over talking.”  I still tend to over talk today, thinking I need to hold the reader’s hand a bit closer to my work. Mark Arax of “West of the West” asked me once, of my short story, “Do you need that last line?”

So here is that poem without the last four  lines

A Poet’s Declaration

I am a star

In the Milky Way.

I am the crest

On emerald waves.

I am a dewdrop, crystal clear,

Capturing moonbeams in the morning mist.

I am that dust

On butter fly wings.

I am that song

Of a thousand strings.

I am that teardrop

You have kissed.

I am a poet!

I am! I am!

I am that rage

In the thunderstorm.

I am that image

Of a thousand forms.

I am magic on each page.

I am a poet!

I am! I am!

(this poem appears in two of my books: Mosaic Moon: Caregiving Through Poetry and Teacher, You Look Like a Horse.)

*Children as Authors Program:

I took my students through the entire writing process.

1.Rough drafts

2.Editing and Revising

3.Final editing by Publisher ( teacher)

4.Final copy ( text, cover, dedication page, about the author, illustrations)

5.Book release at Authors’ Autograph party. Special invitation to parents, administrators, press.)

6.These books were added to the school library and put into the system. All were available to be borrowed as any other book in the library.

I also used this program in all subject areas so their books covered all parts of the curriculum. I miss those years.

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