A Heart That Knows Your Name

Authored by a neurologist who started writing poetry after his father's previously unknown artistic talent was revealed in the throes of Alzheimer's disease, "A Heart That Knows Your Name" is a collection of poetry and song lyrics inspired by the lives, art and stories of persons living with dementia and their care partners. Expressing both "the cry of a heart near death from exsanguination and the song of a soul enraptured in thanksgiving," Potts writes with insight from his own soul space, empathetically attempting to enter the lives of persons living with dementia and their care partners while drawing from relationships fostered during the approximately 20 years since his father developed Alzheimer's. Though not shying away from denial, grief, loss and burn-out that often characterize care partners' experience, the poetry's overarching themes include hope, resilience, creativity, spirituality, growth, faith, compassion, gratitude and love.