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Storms of the Inland Sea
Poems of Alzheimer's and Dementia Caregivingedited by Margaret Stawowy and Jim Cokas |
An affecting and expertly arranged set of poetic works.
--Kirkus Reviews
The pain of losing a loved one to dementia is life-altering. A grandmother forgets the names of her grandchildren. A daughter becomes the caretaker for her mother as her mother grows more and more confused. The story is familiar but nothing prepares one for the emotional toll it takes: contradictory, repetitive, heartbreaking, irrational, as vast as the ocean itself. The poems in Storms of the Inland Sea illuminate a subject that too often exists in shadows. If dementia is a disease of confusion and obfuscation, a dismantling of self and memory, the poems in this powerful anthology are an act of grace and remembrance, a way of bearing witness to the true human mercies we find in the face of overwhelming loss.
--Kai Carlson-Wee, poet and visual artist; author of Rail
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Keeper of the pond
Poems by margaret Stawowy
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Margaret Stawowy’s new collection could just as well have been called Lost and Found. These meditations consider a tenuous world, vanished or fated to vanish, as though to reclaim it, to keep it from absolute annihilation. A number of these poems are gorgeous conceits, sometimes playful, sometimes painful, sometimes perplexing, but almost always executed with a sure hand and a cool eye. Stawowy guides us through the undersides of childhood and memory and dread as "someone in love / with anomaly," who is also "always grateful / for grace"—a welcome combination for the lucky reader.
--Thomas Centolella, Dorset Prize winner and author of Almost Human
