Caring for an aging father diagnosed with Alzheimer's stirs a multitude of experiences and feelings. Poet and photographer Peter Maeck approaches this extremely difficult time of life with extraordinary mindfulness and compassion. In rhyming verse and his own photographs Maeck depicts how he and his father moved from a prose relationship into one of poetry . . . less literal and more metaphorical . . . engaging more in rhyme than in reason. Remembrance of Things Present is an important book for our time as dementia nears epidemic proportions; it is wisdom gleaned from facing one of life's most horrific afflictions with word, image, and love.

Kathleen Brewin Lewis writes about the natural world and family life. In Magicicada and Other Marvels, she gathers the flora and fauna around her into a lyrical collection of poetry that soothes the spirit. This book is a tender testament to the earth's abundance.

Asemic writing is a wordless form of writing, an art form offering an impression or abstraction of conventional physical writing. In Fluency, we see a union of Karla Van Vliet's lifelong practices of art and poetry, each dissolving into the other and resurfacing as asemic writing in full flower. Here are thirty-seven images, thirty-seven pieces of literary expression that extend far beyond literary convention, accompanied by Van Vliet's personal insights and remarks. In her words: There are times when I do not have words. Yet I have the need and desire to write. It is to asemic writing that I turn in these moments. To the gesture of writing. . . . In the branching tree limbs, in the waves, in my hand's scratching across paper, we each read the feeling that rises in us.

Writer, anthropologist, and self-professing nomad Beebe Bahrami knows that walking and exploring are paramount to her sense of connection to the earth. One of her explorations took her to a small fishing village in northwestern Spain and a much-anticipated chance to walk once again but on new tributaries the pilgrimage route of the Camino de Santiago. But it was a side trip to Sarlat in southwestern France, a place called the Frenchman's paradise by author Henry Miller, that unexpectedly gave Bahrami much to explore and enjoy as the region worked its way into the author's heart. A travel narrative and memoir, Caf Oc will delight readers with its tantalizing descriptions of French foods and wines, walks through the countryside, visits to the prehistoric painted and engraved caves, and the warm and welcoming people in the Dordogne region of France. It will also take them along a path of serendipity and magic, and a meditation into how we are pulled by the desire for home. Accompanied by photographs taken by the author, Caf Oc is also a pictorial record of places, people, and events. Over time and several lengthy visits, Bahrami found a surprising desire to settle down, to leave her tent poles anchored in place to that precious earth.

This important and engaging book records the first acquaintance of poets from American Indian and Native Siberian cultures as they come to recognize their similar cultures, life-ways, and reverence for the natural world. The poetic dialogues contain a mutual recognition of kinsmen across centuries of mutual isolation. Perhaps their chief value is the declaration of fundamental human values, expressing the authors' deepest aspirations as spokesmen for traditional cultures. As Alexander Vashchenko concludes in his commentary, This poetic calling-forth offers an important lesson to all of us who live from day to day, with confused priorities, without a thought to eternity; who forsake our original nature-our distant, ancient kinsman, the Bear, that mighty spirit of Mother Nature and powerful symbol of our enormous, universal nation. The Foreword, Afterword, supplementary notes, and Editor's Note limn the historical and biographical background that make this text a world's first, inspiring a call for future intercontinental collaborations of indigenous writers. Poetry and commentary by N. Scott Momaday and Yuri Vaella. Edited by Alexander Vashchenko and Claude Clayton Smith. Contributions by Susan Scarberry-Garcia, Andrew Wiget, Nathan Romero, and James Walter.

These poems, written in prose blocks, capture memories of growing up in the Inland Empire in California. Through looking back, as if through prisms, the speaker of these poems remembers pivotal experiences that occurred during her journey from child to adult. She searches for love, looking deeply into religion, marriage, romantic relationships, and friendships, and faces both barrenness and abundance, darkness and light, winter and summer, trauma and love. The speaker comes to find her identity through the symbol of the lemon tree, which ultimately becomes her personal tree of life.

The lens of Peter Maeck's Aperture captures a rhymed and unrhymed gallery of animated short subjects and tableaux vivants peopled by cold sober sages, ardent idealists, self-crowned royalty, and pretenders to their thrones. By turns mordant, merry, and mischievous, these poems humor saints and shysters, frame show-offs, and coax grins from the camera-shy.

The Way of Tanka is an approachable yet comprehensive examination of the Japanese form of poetry known as tanka. The author, Naomi Beth Wakan, discusses its roots in early Japanese courts where it was considered the poetry of lovers, as well as its adaptation to western culture and the characteristics that separate it from the more popular form of Japanese poetry: haiku. Throughout, Wakan weaves her story of personal self-transformation as she moved from the more disciplined writing of haiku to the more metaphorical and philosophical writing of tanka. Numerous examples of tanka are provided, and the rich explanation of the experience of writing tanka encourages readers to write their own tanka while remaining open to the possibilities it provides for personal growth.

Harvey H. Honig began his life's work as a Lutheran minister but soon recognized his need for a more spacious and inclusive approach through which to heal and understand his inner self. This led him to spend many years exploring and experiencing other paths of religion and spirituality. In recent years, though, he found that the message, mission, and being of Jesus still played a powerful and transformative role in his life. Since common understandings of the life of Jesus are embedded within a biblical and historical framework, Honig wanted to explore the meaning of Christianity within the framework of our current world. An Interfaith Christian Theology is for fellow seekers who are drawn to the being and message of Jesus but can no longer relate to the dissonance between reality and belief that so many churches require. Honig's approach differs from traditional Christian theology in two ways: first, it does not stem from the framework of a specific denomination, and second, it presents itself as a way of thinking about Christianity rather than the only way. After several years as a minister, Honig began Jungian analytic training and earned a PhD in psychology at Loyola University Chicago. Jung gave Honig the tools he needed to continue his personal search for a life-affirming view of Christianity and to assist others in their search for inner truth and healing.

It started with a personal commitment to sit an hour each week for a full year in the same spot in the woods. John Harvey's intention was to reconnect with nature and observe the flow of natural life through the four seasons. As Harvey settled into his weekly routine of visiting his sit spot and fully engaging his senses, rich and illuminating experiences began to unfold. His encounters with nature included seeing and listening to a plethora of birds, from tiny wrens to large hawks, from sweet-singing warblers to rattling woodpeckers; enjoying the sight of seasonal plants such as wild violets, trout lily, and skunk cabbage; sitting out in the open during weather events that ranged from glorious warm summer sunshine to an Alberta clipper in the winter; and spotting the occasional deer and even a black bear. In all cases, Harvey sought to observe, listen, appreciate, and learn. Learn he did--about the birds, animals, plants, and trees that surrounded and intrigued him. But his remarkable encounters with nature also facilitated self-discovery, fostered insight, and nurtured empathy and intuition.

As an emerging young painter in New York City, Brahna Yassky lived her dream, working full-time as an artist and supporting herself with her work, attending art openings and going to clubs, and painting scenery in theaters. In 1982 a flame shot up from her stove and burned 55% of her body. In Slow Dancing with Fire Yassky chronicles the day she was burned, the three months she spent in the burn unit enduring an arduous healing process, and the next full year of physical and occupational therapy. She feared she might never paint again or have an independent life. Would any man ever find her attractive enough to want a relationship? Over time Yassky's resilient spirit guided her to build a new life. She earned credentials as an art therapist and helped others heal from their traumas by engaging with the creative process. She adopted a daily practice of swimming, both as a meditation and a way to loosen scar contractions. The New York City Department of Health commissioned her to create a mural on the outside of a building in the South Bronx and posters for every subway car. She joined the Guerrilla Girls, a women's artist activist collective whose mission was to fight racism and sexism in the art world. She wrote and directed a film about the day she was burned, casting an actress to play herself, thus objectifying the experience and eliminating her personal identity as a burn victim. And finally, she married a man she never would have dated before the fire because his greatest attributes were kindness and nurturance, not coolness and worldly success. Her story encourages the belief that building a resilient spirit and healing our wounds and traumas are not only possible but exhilarating.

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A sequence of poems and prose questions, Dwelling: an ecopoem began as a conversation with Martin Heidegger's essay Building Dwelling Thinking and became an expansive journey into the notion of home. With sharp focus, at once moving and lyric, Scott Edward Anderson explores the many facets of our dwelling on earth by drawing upon elements of nature, community, place, and love. Along the way, Anderson considers the impact of language, writing, displacement, and the city as ecosystem, ultimately concluding, Home or the idea of home haunts us . . . we are always searching for it, for the way 'back home.' All we can do is try to make it, try to bring forth home as dwelling.

Shortly after Sylvia Worthley turned eighty-two, she summoned her daughter Sherry Horton to her apartment. With her spine straight and hands folded in her lap, Worthley announced, I want to get down what it was like growing up in Lunenburg, Vermont. Can you help me? Over the next several weeks, Worthley spent dozens of hours talking about her childhood while Horton taped the conversations and took careful notes. Remembering events of her childhood fondly, Worthley became tearful only when describing aloud, for the first time, her mother's death in 1933 when Worthley was just twelve. Horton listened eagerly to everything her mother said about the three generations of women who came before her, how they lived on hilly, remote family farms during the tumultuous decades of the Great Depression and the beginning of World War II. I Want to Talk, the result of compiling these taped conversations and notes, tells the story of a family and a village in northeastern Vermont during the years between 1920 and 1940. This portrait of rural life in New England is enriched with numerous photographs provided both by the family and by local groups focused on the history of Lunenburg, Vermont.

Winner of the 2006 National Outdoor Book Award, David Zurick recounts an event in his life that seems exceedingly uncomplicated: he built a goldfish pond in his backyard. Yet, there is more to a goldfish pond than meets the eye. Zurick's compelling story travels the world, encompassing places of extraordinary beauty and rich cultural traditions, but the core of it is in Wolf Gap Holler, Kentucky, where he lives among hard-working and community-minded neighbors, cuts firewood to keep warm in the winter, and enjoys morning coffee by his goldfish pond . . . often with his neighbor George. Entertaining and informative, the book at first seems so simple that one barely notices its treatises on the sacred qualities of place, the contemplative virtues of nature, the dilemmas of sustainability, and the spiritual framework that undergirds life. Yet, this is what this book is about: a sacred and seamless landscape that extends from the highest mountain plateaus in Tibet to the deepest hollers of Kentucky.

Known as someone who worried about every little thing, always anticipated the worst possible outcome, and generally allowed her thoughts to get far ahead of life's actual circumstance, author Jane Anne Staw was one day inspired to think small. Her inspiration led her to learn to pay attention to the unfolding moments of life without the burden of worrying about what might come next. Over time, thinking small developed into a central practice in Staw's life, and what followed was life-changing. In all facets of her life, she experienced a shift away from anger, depression, overwhelm, and loneliness to affection, calm, and connection. These short and insightful essays about some of life's most common occurrences are meditations and exercises in thinking small and discovering a life of profound contentment and wellbeing.

A spiritual memoir and travelogue, God through Binoculars: A Hitchhiker at a Monastery is about where you go when you have nowhere left to go. After a difficult childhood and a series of tragedies and misfortunes, author Danusha Goska finds herself without hope for the future. Supported by her passion for travel and discovery, as well as her commitment to Catholicism, Goska decides on a retreat at a remote Cistercian monastery. What results is a story about family, friends, nature, and God; the Ivory Tower and the Catholic Church. God through Binoculars is utterly naked and, at times, politically incorrect. Some readers will be shocked. Others will be thrilled and refreshed by its candor, immediacy, and intimacy. Her previous, highly-rated book, Save Send Delete, was enormously well-received, and readers will find that Goska's ability to tell a masterful story with a powerful message continues in God through Binoculars.

Cheryl J. Fish first visited Finland as a Fulbright professor in 2007. Since then she has returned many times to research protest and resistance to mining and extraction in Arctic Fennoscandia in the works of Sami filmmakers, photographers, and artists. However, the landscapes and experiences of the country's saunas, lakes, villages, homes, streets, and parks evoked rich stories and poetry. This unique collection of poems, The Sauna Is Full of Maids, is a reflection on how present-day Finnish life intertwines with folklore and mythology-expressed in the Kalevala, a work of epic poetry compiled from long-lived ballads, songs, and incantations-and advancing modern developments. Accompanied by many of the poet's own photographs, this collection has the kind of rich cultural detail that warms and satisfies the reader with insight and appreciation.

Upstream is a continuation of Eric Wade's wilderness story begun in his earlier book, Cabin. For many years, Wade has traveled twice a year to his cabin on a river for an extended stay in the Alaska boreal forest. There he and his wife, Doylanne, built a rewarding life among bear, moose, owls, grouse, and fish. But their recent trips carry a different feeling as they face the challenges that come with aging. Wade gives us a look at his pain and frustration as he needs to adjust his behaviors to suit his physical changes, having reached the point in life when he transitions from building and growing to slowing down and letting go. Beautifully written, Upstream is a meditation on a life spent in the wilderness and the realization that one's dream doesn't fade as the years go by, but one must be prepared to make some changes.

After being married for ten years and having two children, author and yogi Molly Chanson lives with a nagging feeling that something is wrong. Her suspicion that her husband is having an affair is further complicated by her addiction to alcohol, poor body image, and a lost sense of self. Having first practiced yoga with her mother as a child, Chanson returns to a daily practice and discovers the profound impact that yoga can have on one's physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Fallen Star is Chanson's account of her far-reaching journey of healing guided by Patanjali's Eight Limbs of Yoga, which includes asana (poses), pranayama (breath), and meditation, as well as self-discipline, surrender, and more. Chanson shows how the tenets of ancient yoga philosophy can be applied to a broad spectrum of experiences shared by women, ranging from dating, marriage, and motherhood to loss of identity and focus on one's appearance. Here are lessons for women who seek to unravel stories and pain that have prevented them from living a complete and fulfilled life, to find their true selves, and to awaken to new possibilities. Here is a story about tapping into the resilience, courage, and hope lying deep within the human spirit.

Poets Margaret Stawowy and Jim Cokas both experienced a personal metamorphosis while caring for a parent with dementia. While answering a higher calling to care for someone with grace, forbearance, and love, the reality is that such commitment is often accompanied by burnout, financial worries, loneliness, loss of loved ones as we once knew them, and hard choices. Despite the difficulty of the situation, caregivers must learn to weather the practical and emotional storms that are sure to occur. Stawowy and Cokas chose to curate this literary collection, wishing they had had poems such as these to carry them through their difficult experience. The result of their efforts is a powerful and insightful book that can help future caregivers navigate the uncharted and unpredictable seas of caring for patients with dementia.