This is an article written by a dear friend when she worked for the Arizona Republic Newspaper. I hope you enjoy.
Poetic approach reaches Alzheimer's patients
Long-term memory stimulated by visits
by Nicki Escudero
AZCENTRAL.COM
Arizona Republic Newspaper
Twenty women suffering from Alzheimer's disease sat in a circle at the Encore Senior Village in Phoenix to listen to poetry.
The attraction was the Alzheimer's Poetry Project, a nationwide program where experienced poets perform classic poems for Alzheimer's patients.
Poet Christopher Lane shook each lady's hand before starting to read them The Tiger by William Blake.
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"I want to know," Lane said, "have any of you seen a tiger before?" He then recited, "Tiger, tiger, burning bright."
When Lane performs The Tiger and The Arrow and the Song, the listeners often recognize the words from their long-term memory and start reciting them, he said.
"Every time I go in there, I'm drained emotionally," Lane said. "Some of the things that come out of their mouths are amazing."
The Alzheimer's Poetry Project began in 1997, when poet Gary Glazner received a grant from Poets and Writers Magazine to start something poetry-related for an adult day-care center in California. Lane is one of 10 poets Glazner has trained, and the two met in Sedona, where Lane is based. Lane said he wanted to start Arizona's Alzheimer's Poetry Project after he read Glazner's book, How to Make a Living as a Poet, and Glazner said Lane is highly qualified to bring this unique program to Arizona.
"Not only is he a good poet (who) has strong writing and is passionate, but he also is an amazing organizer, and you guys are lucky in Arizona to have someone like him who goes out and starts stuff on his own," Glazner said. "He's really dedicated, and that's really rare to find in a poet because most poets are only interested in their work."
Indeed, Lane kept the attention of the listeners, whose smiles and clapping showed their interest. They also got involved with the poetry themselves.
"What is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?" Lane asked the women gathered Oct. 13.
As each of the women named items and people like sunshine, mothers and a lake house, Lane furiously scribbled their answers in a notebook. Then he started an impromptu poem incorporating each thing. It was simple but touching and worked the participants' short-term memory.
At last Friday's program, one woman was inspired to share her own poem, and the rest of the group applauded her.
Though the Alzheimer's Poetry Project is fairly new in Phoenix, it seems to have already achieved much success with the people it's reaching.
"I had a ball. Everything's been great," said Frances Smith, an Alzheimer's patient at Encore. "My favorite part was the continuity, getting together and all participating."
Lane plans to visit Phoenix every month. Lane has been doing the Alzheimer's Poetry Project in northern Arizona. This was the first time he came to Phoenix. As a non-profit organization, funding is a challenge, even though Lane has already received seven grants for the project. He said there are several ways people can help and get involved.
This isn't the only endeavor Lane, executive director of NORAZ Poets, which is based in northern Arizona and that organizes the readings to Alzheimer's patients also in charge of Young Voices, Be Heard, where he goes into high schools and works with students on their poetry. There are also two projects in the works: Legacy, which he hopes to have going in Phoenix by next fall and in which the high school students he works with perform for Alzheimer's patients, and a project in which poetry is brought to detention centers. Fellow Arizona poet Corbet Dean said the Alzheimer's Poetry Project is beneficial to an often-ignored community.
"Have there been poetry projects in elderly facilities all over the state? Absolutely," Dean said. "This is something different and specific in the sense of targeting an especially forgotten group and using poetry to unlock their history."
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