***

My mind’s not at all a blank slate,
Though I cannot keep track of the date
Or the day of the week,
And facts play hide-and-seek,
For my mind to be blank would be great.

Instead it is wired like spaghetti;
It conflates the important and petty;
The connections of things
Are like tangles of strings
Or like celebratory confetti.

***

HPP Author Gary Glazner discusses how poetry helps people with dementia connect with others and rediscover their creative potential

By Kimberly Beauchamp

The preceding poem was crafted by Santa Fe poet Stuart Hall, who read about his personal experience living with severe memory impairment at the 2012 “Dementia Arts on Capitol Hill” exhibit, a week-long array of events celebrating the therapeutic and transformative powers of the creative arts in the lives of people with dementia. For National Poetry Month (April), Health Professions Press celebrates poetry as a particularly healing art form and means of expression for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, including those in the latest stages of the disease.

HPP author Gary Glazner is founder and executive director of the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project (APP), an innovative program that uses poetry to connect to people with dementia. As part of an APP activity program, session leaders recite familiar, classic poems to groups in assisted living facilities, adult day cares, and senior centers and have participants echo the words and lines back to them. APP also offers people with dementia the opportunity to create and perform their own poems together. “Group poems” are often part of an APP workshop, in which the session leader asks participants for their thoughts on a particular open-ended prompt or topic, like “chocolate” or the “beach.” The group members’ spontaneous and creative responses form the lines of a new poem.

So what makes poetry so powerful, and how does it work its magic in the lives of people with dementia? In his newest book Dementia Arts: Celebrating Creativity in Elder Care (HPP June 2014), Glazner explains the effectiveness of the call and response format of reciting poetry, where a speaker reads a line from a familiar poem and the audience with dementia repeat the words aloud. Repeating poetry relies on “echoic memory,” a “brief mental echo that is thought to last for upwards of 3 or 4 seconds after an auditory stimulus has been heard.” Echoic memory remains intact even in the latest stages of dementia. The natural rhythms of poetry can also reach those who are nonverbal—Glazner suggests ways to incorporate movements and exercises into a poem, such as pumping or moving the hands to the beat of the words. Usually, the motion and contact will elicit a positive response and brighten affect.

Though the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project format is ideal for healthcare facilities, the joys of poetry can also translate into the intimacy of the home setting as well, bringing comfort to the caregiver as well as the person with dementia. Dementia Arts demonstrates ways that poetry can transform caregiving activities like bathing and dressing into enjoyable bonding time for both parties–a daughter might recite a poem to the rhythm of her brush strokes in the morning while fixing her mother’s hair, or sing rhyming songs with her while she is in the tub. These interactions help reframe care tasks into playful experiences instead of chores.

For more poetry prompts and writing recipes, as well as further information on how to incorporate poetry into dementia care, look for Glazner’s book Dementia Arts: Celebrating Creativity in Elder Care, available now. In this month of spring and renewal, we appreciate how the rhythms, rhymes, and rifts of language brighten and refresh the lives of all people, regardless of their mental impairments.