Tag Archives: poetry

April 28, 2025 · 8:00 am

Join AlzAuthors for a poetry reading

I hope you can join AlzAuthors for Poetry for the Dementia Journey, a moving and inspirational poetry reading on Tues. April 29 at 2 p.m. EDT. I’m honored to be one of the participating poets. I’ll be reading a poem inspired by my father’s experience with dementia. The event will be held virtually via Zoom.

While I’ll always consider the essay format to be most suitable for my writing style, I’ve always had a love of poetry. There’s something unique and impactful that comes from writing poetry vs. long-form writing. Distilling emotions and events down to their essence can help one see things in a different light. With poetry, I can’t hide my feelings behind paragraphs of text; I’m motivated to release the raw feelings, which is so cathartic when it comes to the caregiving experience.

If writing poetry feels intimidating, try writing a prose poem. I was thrilled to have Her Lists, a poem about my mother’s colorful and wild shopping lists, included in The Prose Poem journal in 2024. Though I’d written about the same subject that I included in my award-winning essay collection, The Reluctant Caregiver, the prose poem format allowed me the freedom to play with language and rhythm.

AlzAuthors is the global community of authors writing about Alzheimer’s and dementia from personal experience to light the way for others. The wonderful organization is celebrating 10 years, which is hard for me to believe. I’m amazed at its growth and what it has done for the Alzheimer’s community.

If you are unable to attend live, the poetry reading will be recorded and shared on the AlzAuthor’s YouTube channel and podcast. There’s also a free guide that will provide you with links to poetry books written by members of the AlzAuthors community. In honor of National Poetry Month, you can purchase a copy of Poetry for the Dementia Journey: An AlzAuthors Anthology at a deep discount.

Hope to see you at the poetry reading!

Poetry for the Dementia Journey: An AlzAuthors Anthology available now

I’m excited to share that Poetry for the Dementia Journey, an AlzAuthors Anthology, is now available.

A poem I wrote about my father, is included in the collection. “At the Crossroads” is about the week I spent with my father in a hospital in Albuquerque in the last month of his life. He was in a medically induced coma so I spent many long hours looking out the window of his room.

I’ve found that beyond personal essays, writing poems about my caregiving experiences has been healing for me. Writing poems encourages me to distill memories using concise language and experiment with perspective and voice.

I had a chance to review an early copy of the book and was so moved by the poems people wrote about the dementia experience, from a myriad of perspectives.

To celebrate the launch of the collection, AlzAuthors is hosting a reading on Monday, June 3 at 4 p.m. ET. I’ll be participating, so I hope to see you there. If you are not able to attend live, the session will be recorded. You can access the Zoom link here..

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Filed under Awareness & Activism

Tagged as Alzheimer's, books, caregivers, dementia, poetry

April 1, 2024 · 8:00 am

Embracing our loved one’s eccentricities

I recently had a poem about my mother’s infamous shopping lists published. You can read “Her Lists” at The Prose Poem.

My mother’s lists were like a look inside her busy bee brain. It may have seemed like an oxymoron, but my mother’s chaotic organization style worked for her. That was fine until I became her caregiver and then I was the one responsible for interpreting her wacky roadmap.

I wrote “Her Lists” during a poetry workshop a few years ago. I tinkered with it just a bit since then, but it mostly came out as is on first draft. If you’ve had challenging caregiving moments that you are trying to work through, engaging with them in a creative process may be helpful. Taking a look at such moments with a different lens may be healing and provide some sense of closure.

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