This is Martha Reingold’s third book. Her two prior works, Jewish Wry and Other Slices of Life and the Girl Out of Brooklyn are both collections of stories, essays, and poems. Here, in The Seabury Scribblers Present… Martha has donned her non-fiction hat to describe the experience of writing poetry with dementia patients. It was a very special thing to do. She discovered the power of poetry to communicate with people in all stages of dementia. “Poetry is a form of therapy,” she says.
| Over the course of a year and a half, the Seabury Scribblers met to create 26 poems. This book contains all the poems the group wrote as well as commentary on the wonders of Seabury, a Continuing Care Residential Community in Bloomfield. Seabury is a wonderful place where senior citizens reside in comfort in independent living, assisted living, and spaces where special attention is available. The Seabury Meadows houses dementia residents and is, as Martha says, “the most inspiring place to work.” As a volunteer, she has come to love the residents and the staff that cares for them. Reading this little book, one will learn one way to engage with those people grappling with dementia. To make them laugh. To give them a sense of a job well done. Hats off to Seabury for creating such a grand, comfortable place. This is a story that should be told. It should be read by students of nursing, social work, psychiatry, and psychology. It will be helpful to anyone who interacts with these people. Available on Amazon. |