Mining my sister's memory - launch

Delighted to present my poetry pamphlet as part of the poetry contributions to the launch of Pushing out the Boat publication no 18 at Newton Dee 18th May 2025. I also had 2 of my art works on display of which one is featured in the publication. Mining my Sisters Memory explores the loss of my sister to dementia through the pain and power of earth’s natural processes.

Memory circulates like the blood stream * - but what heppens when the human equivalent of a glacial erratic or a fault line halts its movement.

*Muriel Spark

Keeping up with my sister

The disconnect between reality and memory is gaining traction as my sisters dementia progresses. This slow decline is almost like a great glacier in recession and a loss of great significance in my life.

MIning my sister's memory

Geology is a useful metaphor for dementia – the bed rock is the oldest and longest lasting memories, gradually reducing through substrate to the surface – the newest memories are the first to disappear.

My Sister's Brain

Understanding the cause of Alzheimer's and the impact of dementia helps me deal with the devastating loss of my sisters memory. I treasure every moment I manage to have with her considering she is in Australia. The video of the seemingly silent storm was taken when we watched it together from Cowes in Australia on my last visit and was such a strong visual metaphor for this terrible disease.