April is National Poetry Month!
Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching is one of my favorite books - especially the translation by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English. I designed this poster of my favorite verse - png and print quality pdf below. It hangs in my office and ponder its message often - full text below.
Other favorite collections:
Su Tung-p'o, Burton Watson, translator
The Columbia Book of Chinese Poetry, Burton Watson, translator
Japanese Death Poems, Yoel Hoffmann, editor
The Essential Haiku, Robert Hass, editor
And for your person who is on a dementia journey, the ability to read is often maintained late into the journey. Some tips for reading:
You may find that your person enjoys reading aloud, rather than silently.
Read-aloud groups are a great way to cultivate connection
If your person has difficulty reading, try a larger font size, a narrow width of text (or, wide borders), and high contrast (black on white background or black on yellow background)
Your person may enjoy shorter articles or stories, rather than longer texts
Choose themes that are meaningful to your person - for ex, gardening, dogs, devotionals, etc
Do you know about StrongerMemory? It's a research-based free program to emphasize working memory and includes reading aloud, completing simple math quickly and handwriting. For more information: https://goodwinliving.org/stronger-memory/ and a research update on StrongerMemory with George Mason University: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3LUeQ7xmJY.
Print-quality PDF:
Tao te Ching, Lao Tzu, Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English, translators
Thirty spokes share the wheel's hub
It is the center hole that makes it useful.
Shape clay into a vessel;
It is the space within that makes it useful.
Cut doors and windows for a room;
It is the holes which make it useful.
Therefore profit comes from what is there;
Usefulness from what is not there