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Norma Jenckes knows the costs of dementia more than most, having watched two loved ones travel into the shadowy realm where memory and personality slowly erode. First she watched her mother succumb to the disease, then, years later, realized her husband travelled the same road. Enjoying a fulfilling life of shared research and interests, Jenckes is blind-sided by the unwelcome and rapid changes her husband, a respected Shakespearian scholar, began experiencing memory loss and an increased inability to perform daily tasks. Unable to cope with the demands of academic life, he retired, and Jenckes, who had planned to continue her career for several more years, found herself trading her career for that congenial commitment. The transition took a severe toll on Jenckes, both physically and emotionally. As she adjusted to her new life, she found strength and comfort in two old friends: reading and poetry. Already a published poet, she began to articulate the pain, loss, and occasional triumphs of caregiving in her poems, emerging forcefully in new work that demanded to be told. The collection is broken into three distinct parts. First, she remembers her mother, a creative, hard-working individual who raised Jenckes and two other daughters with Down syndrome. Drawing inspiration from her mother's Irish heritage, Jenckes weaves elements of Gaelic songs and expressions into a poetic tribute to a strong, loving woman. The second portion of the collection focuses on her husband's life and personality. No longer capable of telling his own story, Jenckes' evocative poetry celebrates his life both as he was and as he is now, lost in the undiscovered lands of dementia. In the last section of the collection, Jenckes focuses on her role as caregiver, with all the conflicting emotions the responsibility brings. Jenckes refuses to soften the reality of caregiving. She deals with the frustration and pain with a clear, sometimes brutal honesty. At the same time, she's quick to find the positive in her situation, especially in a sudden eruption of her old faith. Her poems outline the love, stolen moments of clarity, and comic elements which caregivers experience. The result is Dementia: the Undiscovered Country, a collection of poems at once heartbreaking and uplifting.

The world's premier publisher of Asian forms in English, Eastern Structures picks up where Contemporary Ghazals left off, publishing English-language examples of the Middle Eastern form, but now in addition to Korean sijo and Japanese forms such as haiku and tanka - rendered exclusively in the 5-7-5 and 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic structures. Issue 12 features the ghazals of Steffen Horstmann, William Dennis, Mace Hosseini, Denver Butson, Red Slider, Eric Torgersen, and others; the sijo of Tamara K. Walker, Edward Baranosky, Norma Jenckes, and several others; the haiku and tanka of Priscilla Lignori, Susan Tamara Darrow, Steve Denehan, Kiersta Recktenwald, Mark Ward, Jim Wilson, Ann Hills, Sari Grandstaff, and others; the essay 'Richard Wright: The Best American Haiku' by Odin H. Halvorson; and a review of Tamara K. Walker's recent volume of sijo, Fabric Heart, by R. W. Watkins.

The world's premier publisher of Asian forms in English, Eastern Structures picks up where Contemporary Ghazals left off, publishing English-language examples of the Middle Eastern form, but now in addition to Korean sijo and Japanese forms such as haiku and tanka - rendered exclusively in the 5-7-5 and 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic structures. Issue 6 features the ghazals of Denver Butson, John Philip Drury, Steffen Horstmann, Norma Jenckes, William Dennis, Eric Torgersen, Daniel Hales, Mindy Watson, Eugene A Melino and newcomer Mace Hosseini; the sijo of Tamara K Walker, Chi Holder and Pat Geyer; the haiku of Mark Redfearn, Priscilla Lignori, James Lignori, Nancy Rullo, Ann Hills, Clark Strand and others; and the essay 'Instantiating Syllabics from Japanese to English' by Jim Wilson. Issue 7 is expected in early Autumn 2018, and submissions of traditionally structured Asian poetry and relevant non-fiction are welcome and encouraged.

The Complete Eastern Structures / Volume One provides the newcomer an excellent opportunity to own the first five issues of R. W. Watkins's groundbreaking magazine in one handy 8.5" � 11" collection. Born out of the ashes of Watkins's Contemporary Ghazals, Eastern Structures is the only English-language print magazine dedicated exclusively to several major Asian verse forms. Always true to form, ES publishes the most accurate representations of the ghazal, sijo, haiku and tanka in English today. Also featuring essays and editorials, this collection offers an excellent cross section of the best work from the past two years by some of the premier poets working in such forms. Among others, Steffen Horstmann, Denver Butson, William Dennis, L. J. McDowall, Priscilla Lignori, Mark Redfearn, Clark Strand and Watkins himself are all well represented. Issues One to Five of Eastern Structures are still available individually from Amazon.

The world's premier publisher of Asian forms in English, Eastern Structures picks up where Contemporary Ghazals left off, publishing English-language examples of the Middle Eastern form, but now in addition to Korean sijo and Japanese forms such as haiku and tanka - rendered exclusively in the 5-7-5 and 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic structures. Issue 10 features the ghazals of Norma Jenckes, Steffen Horstmann, Mace Hosseini, Aafaq Hameed, Faiza Anum, Denver Butson, Christopher Mooney-Singh, and Eric Torgersen; the sijo of Nalini Priyadarshni, Michael Wilson, Pat Geyer, Edward Baranosky, and Sue Burke; the haiku and senryu of Priscilla Lignori, James Lignori, Susan Tamara Darrow, Steve Denahan, Debra Woolard Bender, JoAnn Passalaqua, I. S. Kipp, Nancy Rullo, Ann Hills, William Dennis, and others; the tan-renga of Ma. Milagros T. Dumdum and Simeon Dumdum Jr.; experimental tanka excerpted from R. W. Watkins's Waka-Cola: A Tanka Guide to Pop Art; and 'Differentiating and Emancipating': four brief essays by Jim Wilson on the dubiety of free-verse haiku. Issue 11 is expected in the early fall of 2019, and submissions of traditionally structured Asian poetry and relevant non-fiction are welcome and encouraged.

A collection of contemporary ghazals which show the ability of this ancient Persian verse form to carry and illuminate modern American experience.

Written for the express knowledge of the author's family and heirs.

This true story being told happened in New England between 1912 and 1948. Many interesting things happened in this time period: Two World Wars, a major depression and the consequences of these events. The stories of these times as recalled from the memory of Norma are not in great detail, but come together to show how life and times affect one’s destiny. Small incidences in the area of religion seem to start out and come to the front of the story. The detailed conclusion of the story pulls everything together in a way that shows a probable design which can only be seen as time permits. An interesting part of the story is the contrast between the life of a grandmother and the life of grandchildren who seem to live in a different world. And so, destinies are still taking shape.