By Marianne Sciucco, New York, USA
The AlzAuthors collection encompasses a rich tapestry of genres, from practical caregiver guides and insightful memoirs to engaging novels, poignant young adult and children’s books, and the often-underappreciated art of poetry. My role as an acquisitions editor has exposed me to much of this literary landscape, yet poetry remained somewhat unfamiliar territory. Although it was a significant part of my youth, a tool for processing emotions, and a subject of academic study in college, my adult reading life gravitated away from poetry and towards fiction, women’s fiction being a particular passion. This personal distance made our decision two years ago to host our first National Poetry Month event challenging for me as moderator.
Our goal was to highlight the poetic voices within our community. to honor the poets who contribute their unique perspectives on the dementia journey through verse, adding an audiovisual experience to the existing poetry collections on our website. The event, featuring 31 poets – contributors to AlzAuthors and the “Storms of the Inland Sea” anthology – became a powerful testament to the form’s impact.
The two-hour event, later becoming a two-part podcast replay, showcased the remarkable quality and inherent value of these poems. The readings were a revelation to me, rekindling my appreciation for poetry. I was deeply moved by the quality and profound value these poems offered, providing emotional release, comfort in chaos, tribute to those involved, and vital education.
This experience proved to be one of the most meaningful I’ve had with AlzAuthors, directly leading to the creation and publication last June of our own anthology, “Poetry for the Dementia Journey,” now available at a deep discount on Amazon throughout April: paperback 9.99 (reg. 14.99); ebook 2.99 (reg 9.99). Buy it here.
Our 2025 Poetry Celebration
Please join us for our third annual celebration of poetry written by those who have experienced a dementia journey on Tuesday, April 29 at 2 pm EDT via Zoom.
To date, 20 poets have registered to read their work:
- Austin Alexis
- Charles Becker
- David Bredbenner
- Deb Bunt
- Ann Campanella
- Marion Cohen
- Isabel Cole
- Mary Crescenzo
- Kelly DuMar
- Sue Fagalde Lick
- Ann Farley
- Pauletta Hansel
- Brent Hoag
- Joy Johnston
- Marjorie Maddox
- Peter Maeck
- Mariana Mcdonald
- Felicia Mitchell
- Renee Terry Mucci
- Patricia M. Runkle
- Margaret Stawowy
- Michele Wolf
Sue Fagalde Lick, author of “Gravel Road Ahead” and “No Way Out of This” will moderate.
This promises to be a moving, insightful event that will provide you with comfort and support, insight, and inspiration.
It will be recorded and published on our podcast and YouTube channel.
The Poets on Poetry and Their Dementia Journeys
Several of the poets have offered their words on what poetry has meant to them on their dementia journeys. They speak here:
“Poetry gave me a place to put those difficult feelings that come with Alz caregiving. It also gave me a way to share my experiences with others.” – Sue Fagalde Lick
”Poetry has given me the means to interrogate what has happened to me, those around me and even total strangers. Poetry has provided a way for me to process experience, a path to explore the tangled roads of life.” – Austin Alexis
“Poetry served a dual purpose on my journey with my mother. Most importantly, it served as a documentary to help me to remember her as a whole person, from birth to death. Also essential was the therapeutic blessing poetry gave when I was processing difficult emotions.” – Felicia Mitchell
”Writing poetry about my father’s dementia was an act of love, respect, and a desire for connection with him. Writing poetry gave me a chance to speak to my father when he couldn’t hear and understand me on normal terms. Writing poetry was like writing unsent letters to him. Ones that he wouldn’t receive, necessarily, but helped me feel connected to him despite his memory and language loss.” – Kelly DuMar
“As you know, dementia with a loved one is highly emotional. For me, poetry was and is an outlet to express those difficult emotions and feelings. It’s very organic for me.” – David Bredbenner
“Writing poetry helps me put my thoughts in order, but coping with my mother’s dementia was such a draining, chaotic experience that I lost the desire to write for three years. After my mother’s death, and once I regained my equilibrium, I couldn’t stop writing about her decline. Writing and reading poetry helped me to come to peace with the pain of losing her, mentally before physically.” – Michele Wolf
“Poetry provided me with a constructive and cathartic way to process the complex emotions I was feeling about my father’s dementia diagnosis and ultimately, his death. I hope by sharing my own poems I can help other caregivers feel seen and understood.” – Joy Johnston
“Writing poetry in regard to my dementia journey was born out of necessity to process what I experienced in the various care homes with people living with dementia and with caregivers as an arts practitioner. I witnessed the good, the bad, and the ugly of care and the disorder itself. In order to face work the next day, at night I wrote persona poems in the voices of those I served. These poems eventually were the foundation of my play about the inner world of dementia entitled, Planet A.” – Mary Crescenzo
“I learned—am continuing to learn, even after her death—to love the mother who spiraled through dementia through writing about her. Poetry is first the act of paying attention. And as a caregiver for my mother, I was a connoisseur… Clearly, writing poems is not the only way to stay present enough to provide good care. But for me, the “practice of poetry”— the attentiveness to detail, the interest in (and acceptance of) both what is there and what lies beneath, the awareness of the self in relationship to the other, the ability to be both in the moment and an observer of that self and other that dwells there — was, at first, the only training I had.” – Pauletta Hansel
”I am so grateful that I was able to write and then share some poems about my mother during the years of her life when she was affected by cognitive decline and dementia. Our relationship became closer each of those days, and even during the last 4 years of her life (she lived to be 99) she somehow maintained a vocabulary of strength and courage that I carry with me to this day. While her short-term memory skills slipped away from her, too, she held onto her sense of humor and somehow entertained her friends and family with words of wit and comedy. All of these words found homes in my poems.” – Charles Becker
“The journey of dementia can be unbearable. Yet, we must find a way to help our loved ones navigate. I found poetry and journaling my way of releasing the heaviness. Validating emotions while letting go to carry on.” – Renee Terry Mucci
”On my journey with my father as he journeyed through dementia, poetry was not just balm for dismay; it was the essence of our newfound relationship. In my book ‘Remembrance of Things Present: Making Peace with Dementia’ I put it this way: “While my father had Alzheimer’s, he and I moved from a prose relationship into one of poetry, which was no better or worse, just different, less literal and more metaphorical. We engaged more in rhyme than in reason, freezing time initially but then melting it and coming together in that lyrical middle realm between what had gone before and what was yet to be.” – Peter Maeck
The event is free, but donations to support our mission to provide dementia caregivers with quality resources are appreciated. Please donate here. We are a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization.
Questions?
Please contact [email protected].
