Blog Archives
We Did Not Go Gentle
When it is all over
I will shout so all can hear.
“We put up a great fight, didn’t we?
We didn’t just sit back and cower with fear,
We didn’t just sit back and curse this thief
As he quietly stole into our lives.”
This final poem in our series of posts to bring attention to National Alzheimer’s Awareness and National Family Caregivers’ Month is from Mosaic Moon. Author Frances Kakugawa continues her imagery of Alzheimer’s as a thief, one to be fought against bravely, and with dignity.
In addition to the graphic posted below, we created a video to go along with Frances’ reading of this poem at a presentation for the Hawaii Child & Family Services organization. To see more videos for Frances’ readings, visit our YouTube channel or her blog.
Wordsworth the Poet’s Poe-TREE Contest
Frances H. Kakugawa, author of the Wordsworth the Poet children’s books, and Watermark Publishing 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, Dylan and Eliot, 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 his friends’ example and write a poem that celebrates their favorite tree. For an example, see Akiko and Eliot’s “Save This Tree” poems (above and below; click on the images to enlarge).
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. Download an entry form here.
Contest Rules:
- 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. Download an entry form here.
- Poem must be about the entrant’s favorite tree.
- Winning poems will be selected by the judges, including Frances Kakugawa, based on creativity and poetic merit.
- Materials submitted will not be returned.
- Entries must be received by
January 15, 2013DEADLINE EXTENDED: March 1, 2013. - Winners will be notified
February 1, 2013April 15, 2013. Winners may be asked to submit a photo of themselves for publicity purposes. Winners’ name, hometown and likeness may be used for publicity purposes.
For those who are ineligible to enter the Poe-TREE Contest, or who aren’t inclined to write poetry, Frances 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,” Frances 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.”
Frances 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. 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.
We understand that not everyone can plant a tree in their own backyard, so we have 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.
We are very excited to work with the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative to help return native growth to the Hamakua Coast! The land set aside by Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods for this conservation program once belonged to King Kamehameha I, and some original koa trees still remain on the property. HLH uses seeds from these ancient Hawaiian trees to grow the Legacy Trees. Each tree is implanted with an RFID chip which transmits information on the tree’s growth, as well as identifying it as the sponsor’s tree. What an amazing project!
Please Don’t — How Can Writing Help Caregivers?
November is both National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month and National Family Caregivers’ Month. To commemorate this occasion, every week we will be posting a poem by Frances H. Kakugawa, author of Mosaic Moon and Wordsworth Dances the Waltz, titles aimed at helping caregivers and families cope with the stress of caring for a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
On the surface, it’s hard to see the connection between writing — much less poetry writing — caregiving and Alzheimer’s disease. Frances explains:
What is there when poetry appears on paper, and after? There is the reality of what Alzheimer’s disease is and how caregiving forces you and your loved one to live in the center of this disease. In our pursuit of using writing to understand this disease, our loved ones, and ourselves, the reality of what this disease does is not forgotten nor swept under the art of poetry or song. It forces us, along with our loved ones, to reinvent ourselves and to continuously examine what it is that we are inventing and for whom.
In “Please Don’t” (from Mosaic Moon), Frances acknowledges the fear that Alzheimer’s brought into her home.
The Lie — Caregivers and Coping with Alzheimer’s
November is both National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month and National Family Caregivers’ Month. To commemorate this occasion, every week we will be posting a poem by Frances H. Kakugawa, author of Mosaic Moon and Wordsworth Dances the Waltz, titles aimed at helping caregivers and families cope with the stress of caring for a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
Frances views writing as a valuable tool for caregivers, a way to find release. “Writing requires no special tools, only a pen and your voice.” It is a safe place for caregivers to express their innermost thoughts, even the feelings of anger or sadness that we may find shameful to reveal to others.
My hope for caregivers is that my poetry and the poems and stories of those who have contributed their work to my books, Mosaic Moon and Breaking the Silence, will give you comfort, help you feel you are not alone, and encourage you to join our voices in preserving the life that must go on during and after caregiving. Only then can we confront this thief that comes into our lives.
The following poem, “The Lie,” appears in Mosaic Moon, along with more of Frances’ work and contributions from members of her caregivers’ writing workshop, led by Frances for the Alzheimer’s Association Aloha Chapter.
At the Senior Fair – An Alzheimer’s Awareness Poem
November is both National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month and National Family Caregivers’ Month. To commemorate this occasion, every week we will be posting a poem by Frances H. Kakugawa, author of Mosaic Moon and Wordsworth Dances the Waltz, titles aimed at helping caregivers and families cope with the stress of caring for a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
Says Frances:
Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most baffling and arduous journeys for caregivers and loved ones. Even while we are burdened with the everyday stresses, like cleaning up BM and repeating the same thing over and over until we want to scream, we need discover how to muddle through so dignity and honor can be preserved. It becomes our mission to give care to ourselves so our loved ones can in turn, receive the best from us. Writing can give us that way to care for ourselves.
This excerpt from the poem “Senior Fair” captures Frances’ thoughts as she takes a shift in the Alzheimer’s Association’s booth at a senior health expo. “Senior Fair” can be found in its entirety in Mosaic Moon: Caregiving Through Poetry.
We invite you to share these weekly poems and graphics via Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter — or however else you like — and help us raise awareness that as difficult as it may be to cope with Alzheimer’s and caring for loved ones, there are resources to provide help. Many families struggle with finding effective ways to deal with the burdens of caring for older relatives suffering from Alzheimer’s. Author Frances Kakugawa offers a simple start: Wouldn’t the caregiving experience be better if we started by treating our loved ones with dignity? If we remembered who they are as people, instead of only being frustrated that they don’t remember what we just said?
Wordsworth Honors Alzheimer’s Awareness & Family Caregivers Month
November is both National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month and National Family Caregivers’ Month. To commemorate this occasion, every week we will be posting a poem by Frances H. Kakugawa, author of Mosaic Moon and Wordsworth Dances the Waltz, titles aimed at helping caregivers and families cope with the stress of caring for a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
We invite you to share these poems and graphics via Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter — or however else you like — and help us raise awareness that as difficult as it may be to cope with Alzheimer’s and caring for loved ones, there are resources to provide help. Many families struggle with finding effective ways to deal with the burdens of caring for older relatives suffering from Alzheimer’s. Author Frances Kakugawa offers a simple start: Wouldn’t the caregiving experience be better if we started by treating our loved ones with dignity? If we remembered who they are as people, instead of only being frustrated that they don’t remember what we just said?
In Wordsworth Dances the Waltz, Wordsworth’s grandmother comes to live with the family…but she’s rather different than the last time Wordsworth saw her.
All of Frances Kakugawa’s books, including Wordsworth Dances, are 35% off at our online store through the end of November. Use coupon code ALZCARE12 during checkout to claim the discount.
Author Frances Kakugawa will be making a number of appearances throughout November. Visit our website for her schedule.
November is Nat’l Alzheimer’s Awareness and Nat’l Family Caregivers Month
November is both National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month and National Family Caregivers’ Month. To commemorate this occasion, every week we will be posting a poem by Frances H. Kakugawa, author of Mosaic Moon and Wordsworth Dances the Waltz, titles aimed at helping caregivers and families cope with the stress of caring for a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
In Hawai‘i, although many families share multi-generational homes, caregivers often have difficulty finding effective ways to deal with the burdens of caring for older relatives suffering from Alzheimer’s. The experience can be stressful and frustrating, as well as confusing for young children, and Frances strives to help families better cope with the changed “new” person in their lives.
To start off our series of posts, here is an excerpt from Frances’ poem, “Emily Dickinson, I’m Somebody,” which can be found in its entirety in Mosaic Moon.
All of Frances’ books are 35% off at our online store through the end of November. Use coupon code ALZCARE12 during checkout to claim the discount.
Frances will be making a number of appearances throughout November. Visit our website for her schedule.
A Mouse Who Loves Trees
Our little friend Wordsworth the Mouse has been very busy lately. He (with the help of Frances Kakugawa and illustrator Andrew Catanzariti) has a new adventure for you to read, Wordsworth! Stop the Bulldozer!, has visited the Big Island and planted his very own koa tree with the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative, and has started up the Wordsworth Plant A Tree Society! Phew, that’s a lot for a small mouse to do!
Wordsworth’s new book, Wordsworth! Stop the Bulldozer! comes out on November 1. You can meet Wordsworth and Frances at Barnes & Noble, Kahala Mall, at 1PM on Saturday, Nov. 3, when Frances will read from the new book. Purchases made on that day will help benefit the University of Hawai‛i at Mānoa Children’s Center.
A second reading will be held on Saturday, Nov. 10, at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‛i. The children’s book reading begins at 11AM, but Frances will be holding presentations throughout the morning. Visit our website for the full schedule, along with a listing of her other events.
As Wordsworth! Stop the Bulldozer! begins, we learn that Wordsworth’s life has been full of changes — his best friend Emily has moved away, a new girl from Japan named Akiko is sitting in Emily’s chair at school, and worst of all, a bulldozer has invaded Wordsworth’s special koa grove where he thinks up new poems. What should Wordsworth do?
“I would want someone to be nice to Emily,” thinks Wordsworth. So he and his friends, Eliot and Dylan, invite Akiko to teach them about Japanese poetry. And what a good thing, too, because it is Akiko who has a clever idea to save the neighborhood trees from being knocked down.
In the book, Wordsworth’s favorite tree is a koa tree. We purchased a tree from the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative, where it will grow on private conservation land, helping to provide a habitat for native wildlife and preserve our natural resources. As luck would have it, Frances was able to take Wordsworth out to the Hamakua coast to plant his own tree! Here are a few photos from Wordsworth and Frances’ tree planting adventure:
In the introduction to Wordsworth! Stop the Bulldozer! Frances and Wordsworth ask readers of all ages, far and wide, to each plant a tree in their own community. “It’s not only about trees being cut down where we live,” Frances writes. “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.”
Wordsworth wasn’t the first one to plant a tree in honor of his new book, though. Frances’ niece, Tammy Antonio, planted her Wordsworth tree quite a while ago, and it’s already as tall as she is! Tammy planted a native ‘ōhi‘a lehua tree with beautiful orange blossoms in her garden in Hilo.
Because she planted the first of what we hope will be many Wordsworth trees, Tammy gets to be Member #1 in Wordsworth’s Plant A Tree Society. Frances hasn’t signed it yet, but here is the certificate that Tammy will receive.
If you would like to be a member of Wordsworth’s Plant A Tree Society and receive your own membership certificate, all you need to do is plant a tree for Wordsworth in your community (your backyard, your school, etc.) and post a photo of you with your tree on Wordsworth’s Facebook page. Please also tell us where you planted it and what kind of tree it is. (You can also email it to Wordsworth at wordsworth@bookshawaii.net.)
Happy planting!
Happy Grandparents Day!
National Grandparents Day falls each year on the Sunday after Labor Day—this year, that means we honor our grandparents this Sunday, September 9. We can’t think of a better way to pay tribute to all the wonderful grandparents in our lives than with some poems by Wordsworth the Poet.
In Wordsworth Dances the Waltz, Wordsworth has a very special relationship with his grandmother who, he has just been told, is losing her memory. Wordsworth’s parents say that this means she can’t do all the things she used to do before, and she can’t go to school to hear him read his Grandparents Day poem. But this doesn’t seem right to Wordsworth.
Grandma
illustration by Melissa DeSica
When Grandma hugged me
And said, “How’s my Wordsworth?”
When Grandma sent me presents
On special days of the year,
When Grandma gave me candy,
Right before dinnertime,
When Grandma told me stories
Way past my bedtime,
She was Grandma to me
Because she was Grandma,
Not because she had a memory
Or because she knew my name.
Now that she’s losing her memory,
She’s still my Grandma, isn’t she?
Imagine Wordsworth’s delight when he steps on the stage at school to read his Grandparents Day tribute poem and sees his family…with Grandma in her best party dress and a flower in her hair! “I found your poem on Grandma’s bed this morning,” Wordsworth’s mother says. “It reminded me that she is still a big part of this family, and I realized how much she would want to be here today.” Wordsworth’s family have realized that although Grandma may not remember everything, she is still the same person they love.
illustration by Melissa DeSica
Here is Wordsworth’s Grandparents Day poem, written to share with his school.
Grandparents
You are like that trunk of an oak
Whose roots grow deep into our soil
Sending branches up to the skies.
You are a book without end,
Filled with stories and folklore
Of when you were a child
Long before we were born.
You are a treasure
On our treasure hunt,
Gold, trinkets and gems
Where X marks the spot.
Grandparents,
Your stories, your memories,
We will preserve and treasure
For our children and their children.
Grandparents,
We honor you
On this day.
If you would like to write your own Grandparents Day poem and share it with Wordsworth, he would love to read it! You can email it to him or post it on his Facebook page. Wordsworth and author Frances H. Kakugawa have also created Reader Guides to go along with Wordsworth Dances the Waltz and Wordsworth the Poet. Download them at Frances’ blog.
And fans of Wordsworth will be pleased to hear: Wordsworth has a new adventure coming soon! Wordsworth! Stop the Bulldozers! will be released October 2012. Stay tuned for more details!
Poetry Overpowering Alzheimer’s
Frances with Howard Garval, president & CEO of CFS Hawaii.
Earlier this month, author Frances Kakugawa presented a lecture and writing session for the Hawaii Child and Family Services Gerontology Department. Watermark donated sets of her books for CFS and host venue 15 Craigside (a continuing care retirement community) as resources for their communities. Frances is an advocate of the power of poetry to enrich the lives of children, the elderly and those who care for them. Writing—poetry and journaling in particular—helped her cope with the stresses of caring for her Alzheimer’s-stricken mother. In Mosaic Moon and Breaking the Silence, Frances collects her own poems, and those of other caregivers, along with advice for using writing as a therapy tool.
At the CFS presentation, Frances read several poems from Mosaic Moon and Breaking the Silence, and talked about how to preserve dignity in those we care for.
Frances wrote on her blog:
Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most baffling and arduous journeys for caregivers and loved ones. Even while we are burdened with the everyday stresses, like cleaning up BM and repeating the same thing over and over until we want to scream, we need discover how to muddle through so dignity and honor can be preserved. It becomes our mission to give care to ourselves so our loved ones can in turn, receive the best from us. Writing can give us that way to care for ourselves.
The process of writing forces us to make decisions about ourselves as we search for appropriate words, feelings, ideas, and thoughts, letting our true inner voice that wants to be heard, be heard.
We recorded parts of Frances’ presentation and created these videos to share some of her poems, and also one from a workshop participant, Rod Masumoto. Please take some time to click over to Frances’ blog to read more about each poem.
“Oscar Time” (read blog post)
“Diagnosis: Genius Rejected” (read blog post)
“What Do I Feel?” by Rod Masumoto (read blog post)
“Dylan Thomas, We Did Not Go Gentle Into that Night” (read blog post)
Frances offers lectures and workshops for community groups, health care providers and schools, both for children and adults. Visit her website for more information on how to book her for a presentation.
