Cathie Borrie - Looking Into Your Voice: The Poetic and Eccentric Realities of Alzheimers

Praise for
looking into your voice the poetic and eccentric realities of alzheimers The questions posed by this book are brilliantthey are questions that many people would never think to ask anyone else, let alone someone with Alzheimers, but they are the ones that are most important. Not only care-partners and Alzheimers organizations, but also society at large, are well served by the insight contained here. LYNN JACKSON Diagnosed with early stage dementia; cofounder, Dementia Advocacy and Support Network International (DASNI) Brave, playful, and inspiringthis little book manages to capture the enormity of all that is Alzheimer's with elegant simplicity. ANNE DAVIS BASTING Ph.D., Director of the UWM Center on Age & Community and author of Forget Memory: Creating Better Lives for People with Dementia Tender and stark, these poetic dialogues between a mother and daughter provide a moving glimpse into both the losses suffered and insights gained when living with Alzheimers disease. KELLY DUFFIN CEO, Alzheimer Society of Canada Heartbreaking and beautiful... Cathie Borrie has discovered the poetry in her mothers musings.

Unfettered as a result of Alzheimer's disease, they fly freely, communicating both a fresh appreciation of the infinite possibilities of words and her mothers enduring, essential humanity. MARY S. MITTELMAN DrPH, Director, Psychosocial Research and Support, Center of Excellence on Brain Aging; co-author, Counseling the Alzheimers Caregiver: A Resource for Healthcare Professionals This book is living proof of the inventiveness and profundity of one individual with dementia. It is a little gem of little gems, and a triumph of creativity over adversity. Out of memory loss comes the unforgettable. JOHN KILLICK Poet; Writer-in-Residence at the Dementia Services Development Centre, University of Stirling A kaleidoscope of the tangled web of human relationships that illuminates the human capacity for love, the recall of precious moments and the shifting sands of the Alzheimers mind.

GLEN REES CEO , Alzheimers Australia In the mesmerizing currents of this important work, a searching but sure voice delivers us from rational ideas into the magic of a new kind of language. If we let ourselves look into this voice and hear its music, we can move into the embrace of poetry and the sacred space of love. ELLEN S. JAFFE M.A., Poet; teacher; psychotherapist I read Cathie Borrie's beautiful and poetic book with tears in my eyes and a smile on my face. Her conversations with her mother show us how much we can still learn from minds that are tangled with plaques. looking into your voice ~ the poetic and eccentric realities of alzheimers is a gift you should give yourself and others. looking into your voice ~ the poetic and eccentric realities of alzheimers is a gift you should give yourself and others.

JUDITH FOX Author of I Still Do: Loving and Living with Alzheimer's In this tender and moving collection, brief snatches of conversation throw out haunting observations from, and startling insights into, a mind we might wrongly think incapable. There is sometimes impeccable logic in them, more often a slightly offkey note akin to poetry. It is a beautiful testimony to the resilience of the human spirit, well worth meditating upon. JOAN COLDWELL Publisher, Hedgerow Press In the upside-down language of birds Borrie and her mother find each other. This book challenges our beliefs about what it means to live with dementia and strengthens our knowledge of the possibilities of the mind. More, its a belly laughand that is smart medicine.

GARY GLAZNER Founder and Executive Director of the Alzheimers Poetry Project Une explosion et lsprit souvre, se dilate ... This book shows us that dementiaa term to describe our incapacity to understand and celebrate the metamorphosis of a mindcan be a way to access and experience the extreme richness and flourishing of the human psyche. looking into your voice ~ the poetic and eccentric realities of alzheimers is a work of art that captures the work of art of an altering reality. An illumination of the strange and beautiful symphonic shifting of the dementia mind, it brings forth startling and visionary truth. DARIO GARAU SETZU Pianist; musicologist; researcher; visionary caregiver It's a good thing when the veil lifts as it does in this work. What previously felt opaque suddenly offers a view of life that shines.

This book reminds me that when I listen in a new way, a window to the soul is eased open. That's a relief... and its also redemptive. JOHN FOX President, CEO, The Institute for Poetic Medicine; author of Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem-Making looking into your voice the poetic and eccentric realities of alzheimers A collection of recorded conversations between Cathie Borrie & her mother, Joan Borrie NIGHTWING PRESS COPYRIGHT 2010 Cathie Borrie All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including electronic information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Borrie, Cathie
Looking into your voice : the poetic and eccentric realities of Alzheimers / Cathie Borrie.

Quotations spoken by Joan Borrie, also published in The long hello.
eBook ISBN 978-0-9813786-9-5 1. Borrie, Joan--Quotations. 2. Alzheimer's disease--Patients- Language. 3. I. I.

Borrie, Joan II. Title. RC523.B674 2010 616.8'31 C2010-904527-0 Cover art: Dean Goelz, NYC
Cover design Jonathan Wolferstan
Book design: J.L. Salo
Author photo: Kimberly Mara, Eclipse Photography
Photo of Cathie and Joan Borrie: Sarah Solano
NIGHTWING PRESS logo: Tom Graney Printed on acid-free paper. NIGHTWING PRESS ALSO BY CATHIE BORRIEThe Long Hello ~ The Other Side of Alzheimers (paperback, ebook and audiobook) I felt free, free and undivided, free as a bird... Are you sure Im eighty-six? Yes, how old did you think you were? I didnt know whether I was going that way
or that way. What did you think you were doing? I thought I was goingin-between.All I know isIve been zapped of my strength. Yes, and all the funny little laughs.Ive been zapped of them all.Zapped.Did you have anywhere to go with my mind? No, I thought I would leave it right
where it is.

Thats safer, no? But where did you put all that information? In my head. Oh dear. It doesnt matter, does it? Not unless a car is coming!Listen, a bird! What are the birds saying? Theyre chirping. In a language? In their language.In an upside-down language. What do you think about the sky? Oh I dont know about the sky
I dont really know about it.Its pretty beautiful
but you have to wear gloves because it puts
fingerprints on itand you dont want that.Ive reached the ultimate of the
intimate and thats the end of it.If Im not here its not my house. How are you? You mean, eventually?Well, happy 8 out of 10. You see,
its my root section and I cant let it down.Even if it lets me down.Time is running out. That awful feeling of
time