A Poet for President

What would happen if we elected a poet for President?

Breaking News: Today, the President sent 10,000 poets to Syria. Immediately, riot police and demonstrators  turned in their guns for pens.

Breaking News:  All basic training in the military will be led  by the newly appointed Poet Laureate of each military branch.

Breaking News: Poetry Reading in Taksim Square scheduled for tonight in Istanbul.

Breaking News: Breaking News: Breaking News:

 

 

 

 

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Poetry in the Park

A few poet friends and I had a picnic lunch today. Dessert was a dramatization of a poem.Desperate, I did my own Feather Boa and a Toothbrush. I did a C- job, forgetting a line or two.

The setting was perfect, hearing Blake and Whitman,  over cream cheese and watercress on French bread and couscous salad, lemonade and a bottle of wine that stayed corked. Ah April, thou art Poetry Month! We also read our own poems.

 

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The Kitchen and Warm Pepsi

The Kitchen

 

Fanny’s kitchen was always open

to grubby little me who, in want of a pepsi

always knew where to go.

 

too shy for social etiquette,

I’d  sit on her porch

waiting to be seen.

 

soon her voice, “Oh, Hideko,

I neva see you. So hot today,

you want some pepsi?”

 

my nod would take me

into her kitchen where she poured

warm pepsi in an aluminum mug.

 

she could have used crystal,

it would have been safely held

between my hands, as I  sipped and felt

 

warm pepsi flow down my parched throat.

there was no ice in our village, no electricity

or supermarkets, deprivation became  bliss.

 

looking back, I hear the dialogue

between Fanny and her children:

“ma, what happened to the can of pepsi?”

 

“oh, that Kakugawa girl was here again

so I gave it to her.”

“oh man, she always here, drinking our pepsi.”

 

When I became a caregiver

for my mother with Alzheimer’s,

I sought Fanny’s kitchen once again.

 

she was gone then, and we were

all scattered, after Pele’s eruption

that wiped our Kapoho village away.

 

oh , how I needed a pepsi drink

living half in fear in the eerie world

called Alzheimer’s.

 

using that Kapoho girl savvy

I found solace in Jane’s  home.

a Fanny in every aspect.

 

her door unlocked for my visits,

I’d go straight into her kitchen.

“I need a mother,” I’d say,

 

and sit myself down at her kitchen table.

“I dropped my mother at adult care

and I’m tired and hungry.”

 

that brought Jane to her feet. brewed decaf coffee,

lunch or breakfast, pending time of  my visit,

dessert and more decaf while I kept one eye on the clock.

 

there is something so motherly to hear,

“eat, eat. You look too thin.”

 

once again I hear the conversation at the end of Jane’s day,

her family gathered around the dinner table.

“Ma, what happened to last night’s left over dinner?”

 

“Oh, Fran was here today.”

 

it was a place where I sat to gather myself,

a self that was being gnawed away

by that Alzheimer’s thief. and Jane let me be.

 

Jane died last week and I grieve

for the kitchen she offered me, no matter what time of day,

and for being mother when I needed one most.

 

There’s  a kitchen here in Sacramento

since my move eight years ago, a kitchen with another

name, but the same kitchen since my childhood and caregiving  years.

 

Mary’s kitchen is where I now sit,

when my need for a mother, a clearer me, or a friend

creeps up on me and I shout, “I need a kitchen.”

 

I sit and wait for freshly brewed decaf coffee,

or hot green tea with healthy snacks,

mostly home – made by Mary’s hands.

 

I honor all three women this April day,

for a kitchen without lock and warm pepsi

to soothe a parched soul.

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April: Poetry Month: Haiku

Caregiving Haiku

Ah Haiku. I devoted the last 20 minutes to haiku writing today,  at our monthly caregivers’ writing support group. To jump-start their pens, I wrote the following tonight while listening to Charlie Rose.

It was an intense two hours as we, through poetry and conversations, explored dying, knowing when to let go,  and other aspects of caregiving that are making incredible life changes in all of us.  We meet behind closed doors to keep our laughter and tears within our walls. I walked out deeply moved by the depth of compassion and knowledge about self, expressed by the caregivers.

I dip pen in ink

Ah, my first haiku on grief.

Splat!A Rorschach blot.

*****

She stares into space

I turn the volume up high.

We dance on waxed floor.

*****

i tiptoe softly

in the silence of the house

how loud her absence

( appears in Breaking the Silence)

Won’t you add your haiku under Comments?

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Poetry Out Loud

Poetry Out Loud

 

On February 7^th, there is a free event that promises to leave you in a state of wonderment, joy and indescribable poetic pleasures, all brought to you by our young students, ages 13-18.

 

For the 2^nd year, I’ll be on the panel of judges at the Sacramento County Poetry Out Loud competition.

The Sacramento County Poetry Out Loud Recitation Competition is sponsored by the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA), the Poetry Foundation and the Sacramento County Office of Education.

 

The program follows a pyramid structure: After a classroom contest, champions advance to a school-wide level, then to a county and a state competition, and ultimately to the National Finals in Washington D.C.

 

Students select poems from an anthology of 650 classic and contemporary poems. Poems are memorized and performed before a panel of judges. 

 

I have read selections chosen by students and am left with so much respect and admiration for the young students who must have seen something of themselves or their world to have selected the poems they did. We don’t see this part of our young people in malls or in the media.  Many of the poems will take you back to the poetry you’ve grown up with all these years. 

 

Come support these students, their teachers and schools and join me at the Sacramento County Poetry Out Loud Competition on:

 

February 7, 2013

12:30 – 3:30

Rosemont High School

9594 Kiefer Blvd

Sacramento, CA

 

Past competitions can be seen at the Poetry Out Loud website.

All 50 states are involved so do support your local schools through this event.

 Ah Poetry! 

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Sounds of Winter

I love the sounds of winter….

last leaf of autumn, a final gasp ere spiraling, to its fall

golden persimmon, a moveable feast…when winter hunger growls

naked black limbs, inked into art, silencing moans of winters blues

thick grey fog, softens metallic eyes,

blurring edges along its way…

the deafening sounds of winter

bring peace…through her silence.

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Poetry Writing Contest

A reminder that the deadline for the  poetry writing contest sponsored by my publisher is nearing….January 15th. Here’s the original announcement:
Frances H. Kakugawa, author of the Wordsworth the Poet children’s books, and Watermark Publishing of Honolulu announce the Wordsworth the Poet “Poe-TREE Contest,” open to children in grades kindergarten through 12th grade. (Contest rules follow.)
In Wordsworth! Stop the Bulldozer! — the newest Wordsworth the Poet adventure released this month — a bulldozer has invaded the little mouse’s special koa grove where he often writes his poems. What should Wordsworth do?

His new friend, Akiko, has an idea! Wordsworth, Akiko and their friends have all written poems about the special qualities of the trees they see around them — mango trees, coconut trees, kukui trees. Can their poems stop the bulldozer?
To enter the Wordsworth the Poet Poe-TREE Contest, students can follow Wordsworth and Akiko’s example and write a poem that celebrates their favorite tree. Six prize packages will be awarded, two per grade division (K-5, 6-8 and 9-12). Each prize package includes a copy of each of the three books in the Wordsworth series, a child’s gardening tool kit and a Koa Legacy Tree from the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative, donated by Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods.
Send entries ATTN: Wordsworth’s Poe-TREE Contest to wordsworth@bookshawaii.net or to

Watermark Publishing

1088 Bishop St., Ste. 310, Honolulu, HI 96813.

The contest is open to all children kindergarten through 12th grade residing in the United States. Each entry must include the child’s name, age and grade, school, hometown and parent, guardian or teacher’s contact information and signature.

 

For complete rules, contest information and to download the entry form, visit http://blog.bookshawaii.net. Entries must be received by January 15, 2013. Winners will be notified February 1, 2013.
For those who are ineligible to enter the Poe-TREE Contest, or who aren’t inclined to write poetry, Kakugawa and Wordsworth have another way to celebrate trees: They invite readers far and wide to plant trees in their own communities. “It’s not only about trees being cut down where we
live,” Kakugawa writes in the introduction to Wordsworth! Stop the Bulldozer! “Our children and their children must have trees in their future to hug and enjoy and sit under in the shade. Trees also help keep us alive and healthy.”
Kakugawa has created Wordsworth’s Plant A Tree Society to recognize readers of all ages who plant a tree in Wordsworth’s honor. To receive a membership certificate in the Plant A Tree Society, readers must plant a tree for Wordsworth in their community (in the backyard or at school, for example) and post a photo of themselves with their tree on Wordsworth’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/WordsworthThePoet). Photo submissions should indicate the variety of the tree and where it was planted.

 

Submissions may also be e-mailed to wordsworth@bookshawaii.net or mailed to Watermark Publishing. Photos will not be returned and will be posted online.
Watermark Publishing recognizes that not everyone can plant a tree in their own backyard, and has teamed up with the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative to offer a solution: a program to plant Wordsworth Legacy Koa Trees on Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods’ 1,000 acres of conservation land on the Hamakua Coast of Hawai‘i Island.

 

Groups or individuals may sponsor a Wordsworth Legacy Tree for $60. The purchase also includes a copy of Wordsworth! Stop the Bulldozer!, a certificate bearing the GPS coordinates of the planted tree, and automatic membership in Wordsworth’s Plant A Tree Society. Additionally, $10 of the sponsorship fee will be directed to a fund dedicated to providing Legacy Trees for underprivileged children. Wordsworth Legacy Trees may be purchased at http://legacytrees.org/watermarkpublishing.

 

1088 Bishop Street, Suite 310
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
Ph. 808.587.7766
Fax 808.521.3461
http://www.bookshawaii.net

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November: Alzheimer’s Awareness Month:Post #4

The Forever Hurrah…….

As November, Alzheimer’s Awareness Month comes to a close, for caregivers and their loved ones, awareness  does not end,  not even after death.

Caregiving is like a river, but not  a free-flowing river, for there are obstructions from the bank, attorneys, the medical world, siblings, family, and the disease itself, among many unexpected “others”.  So we humanize care giving the best we can by  not adding our own obstacles.  And sometimes, we stand up tall, both caregiver and the one being cared for and we let our voices be heard.

 

                                The Steward’s Reply

 

The day approaches when beings

from beyond the stars come to ask,
“why should the likes of you,
defective and dangerous as you are,
be permitted to spread beyond
the light of your dying sun
and onto the wonder of the heavens?”

In reply, a single caregiver
stepped out from the cloud of humanity
as if to say, “We are the Stewards of Mortality.
In all the limitless expanse of your travel,
the countless species of your wondrous universe,
have you ever met the likes of us?”

 

                by Red Slider

               page 108: Breaking the Silence

*****************************************************

                        Hey Alzheimer’s

 

Hey Alzheimer’s,

Sitting there so smug, gloating

Over the memories

You have stolen, the years we have lost.

Do I have a story to tell you.

 

You see, Alzheimer’s,

What you think you took, we kept.

Every memory we secreted away

In our children, our friends,

Our loved ones.

 

You could not rob us, though we forgot.

You could not erase us, though we could not write.

You could not silence, though we could not speak.

The stories, the laughter, the moments that passed

Into their keep, you could not steal

Into a night of silence.

 

Look at me, Alzheimer’s.

My life is restored, remembered, reconstructed,

With tools of love, dignity and laughter.

A house of memories is built

By my children, and their children

For generations to come.

 

So here I am, Alzheimer’s,

With family, friends, and loved ones.

What you thought you stole

Is still here. We are all still here.

So Alzheimer’s,

What do you think of that?

 

                        by Frances Kakugawa

                        Page 167:Breaking the Silence

 

 

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Poetry Contest

Posted by Watermark Publishers who recently released my Wordsworth! Stop the Bulldozer!

Author and Mouse Announce a Poetry Contest to Honor Trees: Wordsworth the Poet’s Poe-TREE Contest

Frances H. Kakugawa, author of the Wordsworth the Poet children’s books, and Watermark Publishing of Honolulu announce the Wordsworth the Poet “Poe-TREE Contest,” open to children in grades kindergarten through 12^th grade. (Contest rules follow.)

In Wordsworth! Stop the Bulldozer! — the newest Wordsworth the Poet adventure released this month — a bulldozer has invaded the little mouse’s special koa grove where he often writes his poems. What should Wordsworth do? His new friend, Akiko, has an idea! Wordsworth, Akiko and their friends have all written poems about the special qualities of the trees they see around them — mango trees, coconut trees, kukui trees. Akiko tacks poems to each tree and reminds their neighbors of how important a part of their community the trees really are.

To enter the Wordsworth the Poet Poe-TREE Contest, kids can follow Wordsworth and Akiko’s example and write a poem that celebrates their favorite tree. Six prize packages will be awarded, two per grade division (K-5, 6-8 and 9-12). Each prize package includes a copy of each of the three books in the Wordsworth series, a child’s gardening tool kit and a Koa Legacy Tree from the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative, donated by Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods.

Send entries ATTN: Wordsworth’s Poe-TREE Contest to wordsworth@bookshawaii.net or to Watermark Publishing, 1088 Bishop St., Ste. 310, Honolulu, HI 96813. The contest is open to all children kindergarten through 12^th grade residing in the United States. Each entry must include the child’s name, age and grade, school, hometown and parent, guardian or teacher’s contact information and signature. For complete rules, contest information and to download the entry form, visit http://blog.bookshawaii.net. Entries must be received by January 15, 2013. Winners will be notified February 1, 2013.

For those who are ineligible to enter the Poe-TREE Contest, or who aren’t inclined to write poetry, Kakugawa and Wordsworth have another way to celebrate trees: They invite readers far and wide to plant trees in their own communities. “It’s not only about trees being cut down where we live,” Kakugawa writes in the introduction to Wordsworth! Stop the Bulldozer! “Our children and their children must have trees in their future to hug and enjoy and sit under in the shade. Trees also help keep us alive and healthy.”

Kakugawa has created Wordsworth’s Plant A Tree Society to recognize readers of all ages who plant a tree in Wordsworth’s honor. To receive a membership certificate in the Plant A Tree Society, readers must plant a tree for Wordsworth in their community (in the backyard or at school, for example) and post a photo of themselves with their tree on Wordsworth’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/WordsworthThePoet). Photo submissions should indicate the variety of the tree and where it was planted. Submissions may also be e-mailed to wordsworth@bookshawaii.net or mailed to Watermark Publishing. Photos will not be returned and will be posted online.

Watermark Publishing recognizes that not everyone can plant a tree in their own backyard, and has teamed up with the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative to offer a solution: a program to plant Wordsworth Legacy Koa Trees on Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods’ 1,000 acres of conservation land on the Hamakua Coast of Hawai‘i Island. Groups or individuals may sponsor a Wordsworth Legacy Tree for $60. The purchase also includes a copy of Wordsworth! Stop the Bulldozer!, a certificate bearing the GPS coordinates of the planted tree, and automatic membership in Wordsworth’s Plant A Tree Society. Additionally, $10 of the sponsorship fee will be directed to a fund dedicated to providing Legacy Trees for underprivileged children. Wordsworth Legacy Trees may be purchased at http://legacytrees.org/watermarkpublishing.

This land  once belonged to King Kamehameha I. The thousands of Koa trees that once covered this land were destroyed for ranching and farming. All Heritage trees planted will not be harvested and will bear the name of the person for whom the tree was planted.

Wordsworth! Stop the Bulldozer! joins Wordsworth the Poet and Wordsworth Dances the Waltz in the award-winning series of children’s books featuring the poetry-loving mouse, which have won among them “Best Book” awards from both Hawai‘i and California book publishers’ associations, as well as a Mom’s Choice silver award for Wordsworth Dances the Waltz, a book about families living with grandparents with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia-related illnesses. Wordsworth! Stop the Bulldozer! is illustrated by Honolulu artist Andrew J. Catanzariti.

Wordsworth! Stop the Bulldozer! (ISBN-13 978-1-935690-30-6) is available in hardcover for $10.95 at bookstores and other retail outlets and from online booksellers, or direct from the publisher at www.bookshawaii.net.  Contact Watermark Publishing, 1088 Bishop St., Suite 310, Honolulu, HI 96813; telephone 1-808-587-7766; toll-free 1-866- 900-BOOK; fax 1-808-521-3461; e-mail sales@bookshawaii.net.

#   #   #

Wordsworth the Poet’s Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/WordsworthThePoet

Wordsworth’s Legacy Trees: http://legacytrees.org/watermarkpublishing

Wordsworth’s Poe-TREE Contest Rules: http://blog.bookshawaii.net/2012/11/20/wordsworth-poetree-contest/

Contact:  Dawn Sakamoto (808) 534-7170 or dawn@bookshawaii.net

Dawn T. Sakamoto | Director of Sales & Marketing

Watermark Publishing | Legacy Isle Publishing | 1088 Bishop St., Ste. 310 | Honolulu, HI  96813

dir: 808-534-7170 | main: 808-587-7766 | fax: 808-521-3461

e-mail: dawn@bookshawaii.net | web: www.bookshawaii.net

 

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/WatermarkHawaii

Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WatermarkPublishing

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PoetCaregivers Part II

November: Alzheimer’s Awareness Month:

Linda Donahue, caregiver for her mother in Sacramento, shares three of her poems:

GRACE

 

Shouldering duty

like a dusty mule

bearing mother-lode

down the mountain,

now resigned,

now balking and braying,

raucous,

defiant,

I arrive at the door

to the Forbidden City

where the world hides

its demented elderly.

 

I don’t want to be here.

I want to stay home,

play with words all day,

finish a few refractory poems,

but, once again, postponement:

duty, guilt and mother-love

demand it.

 

Hesitating on the threshold,

wondering who she’ll be today

and who I’ll be to her,

half hoping she won’t know me,

I open the door and

walk down the corridor

to her room.

 

Mom sits in her rocker,

docile,

gaze unfocused.

Anxiety grips her

at the sound of my voice,

gradually giving way

to the shy hopeful smile

of a lonely child.

Are you here to see me?

she asks as I take her hand.

I nod yes, let’s go for a walk, Mom.

 

Comprehension blossoms in her eyes:

someone is here for her,

someone wants to walk with her.

I read the poem

of comfort and delight

on her face

and know nothing I write

could mean as much

as this moment of grace.

 

My poems can wait.

                       ©Linda Donahue

                         October 2012

WORDS OF LOVE FROM THE MEMORY CARE WARD

 

My mother was never demonstrative.

I don’t think she ever said she loved me.

Yet she was the vital pulse in my veins,

doing what she did on the periphery of my vision

so quietly and steadily that I rarely noticed.

Her domain was the routine, the mundane,

the boring, repetitive stuff.

She did what had to be done without complaint.

My eccentric, domineering dad eclipsed my mom

until she became almost invisible.

Even today I don’t know everything she did for me,

unseen and unacknowledged.

What I do remember is her patient, unobtrusive presence,

offstage but always there.

I took so much for granted:

ironed tablecloths and matching china,

clean folded laundry smelling of sunshine,

banana bread and buttermilk cookies baking,

applesauce simmering on the stove, never store-bought,

home-sewn Halloween costumes,

vases filled with iris and peonies,

all murmuring the words of love her mouth couldn’t form

and I couldn’t hear.

Now Mom tells me every day that she loves me,

that she couldn’t manage without me,

that I’m a good girl.

I’ve waited a lifetime to hear those words.

I could have heard them so much sooner had I listened.

I hear you now, Mom.  I hear you.

©Linda Donahue

March 2012

I WISH YOU COULD STAY

 

As usual at visit’s end, we walk together to the front door.

Mom’s headlong shuffling gait and flat affect

            announce Alzheimer’s, stage five.

 

As usual I give Mom a big hug and kiss,

            expecting her to turn around and march off to lunch

                        before I’m out the door, no memory I was there.

But today she holds me and doesn’t let go.

Tears etch briny channels down her cheek.

I ask what’s troubling her, why she’s crying.

She responds in a whisper,

            This is the last time I’ll see you, isn’t it.

            I wish you could stay.

Her quiet certainty sounds an alarm in my heart.

Startled, I promise her it’s not the last time,

            I’ll be back tomorrow.

But Mom doesn’t hear my assurances.

She focuses her gaze on my face, intent, penetrating,

            as if to fix my image in the darkroom of her heart.

 

As usual my brain rummages and fumbles for understanding.

Does she suspect she’s entering Alzheimer’s land of no return,

            leaving behind every loved one and familiar landscape?

Can she sense it’s the last time she’ll recognize me?

Is she the one who wants to stay?

Or has anxiety written another terrifying script

            and tricked her into believing it?

I’ll never know, she’ll never know, and it doesn’t matter.

Her earlier disturbing emotions are already forgotten.

As usual when I drive away, I wave with feigned cheer,

            knowing there will be a last time soon, if not today.

Soon, if not tomorrow, I won’t be Mom’s daughter.

My arm around her shoulders drawing her close,

            my warm hand thawing her bony blue fist,

                        will offer the solace of a stranger, nothing more.

 

As always I’ll grieve silently behind the smiling strength

            I conjure for her.

And love her still, even though she doesn’t know me.

                                      ©Linda Donahue

                                      July  2012

 

                                   

 

 

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