AUTUMN IN LA

AUTUMN IN LA

Autumn in LA doesn’t make sense,
shouldn’t even be a song.
I wouldn’t even give it a second thought
It starts on Christmas day
You know what I mean. I’d be a fool to run there.
Autumn in Brooklyn, leaves falling. They do.
Autumn in Vermont, a slight mist,
tramping through the forest
Autumn in LA sounds like fun and laughter
A cacophony of horns on the 405
Doesn’t sound different than any other month
Smells like smog The kids go off to school. And we’re free!
The leaves change colors in autumn
in New York, weather cooling down
We don’t have that here
But the coloring of my liquidambar trees
And there’s a fragrance to it. Autumn.
There’s a street that has a tunnel of trees
They all turn, it’s a very pretty street
Nobody can afford to live on it
but it’s a very pretty street

Autumn in New York makes sense.
Autumn in LA doesn’t make sense.

Created by poet Sarah Jacobus, with the poets at OPICA. Sarah writes about the process, "I chose an autumn theme for today, despite the fact that it’s over 90 degrees here. I gave each participant a little pumpkin to hold, feel, smell. We did call and response with the first verse of James Whitcomb Riley’s The Frost is on the Punkin and made some vigorous kyoucks and gobbles and clucks. A woman in the group started humming Turkey in the Straw, and we realized we could sing the poem to that tune. So we did. Then we listened to Sarah Vaughan’s arrangement of Autumn in New York and talked about songs as poems."

Imagine That- Sarah Jacobus

One of the pleasures of running the Alzheimer's Poetry Project (APP)
is the people you meet.
Sarah Jacobus has been taking the the APP on-line training
and it is true delight to see how she is shaping the APP to her own voice and vision.

In addition, Jacobus has been certified in the storytelling project, "TimeSlips,"
and is taking an improv class!

The poems she has been creating with her groups in Los Angeles are full of strong images.

This is a photo Sarah took of a budding peach tree in her backyard.
She brought clipping from the tree to share with and inspire her group.
She asked a series of questions around the theme of trees
and the group's answers became the lines of the poem.

I can't wait to see what her and her poets come up with next.
It is an honor to share their poem with you.

I AM A TREE

(The poem “I Am a Tree,” inspired by the Joyce Kilmer poem “Trees,”
was created with Sarah Jacobus by the poets at OPICA,
a Los Angeles adult day program and counseling center for people with memory loss.)

I have a strong central bark
and branches with flowers at the end
I am mostly green
a little brown at the tips
but mostly green, that’s for sure
I am brown, solid and gray
with little touches of red and blue
Fragrance clean
I smell like sweet apple
I shade myself from being frightened

Refreshing, I smell the air in the neighborhood
It keeps me from thinking of bad things
Refreshing, and raring to go explore the area
maybe a deer, or a small squirrel there
a brook with stones that are smooth
smooth
They make a person feel real good about life.

We had an elm tree in the backyard
There was another tree like it
3,000 miles away in Connecticut
It had the same fragrance
I could jump back and forth between them

I sit at the top of a windy hill and feel
nostalgic about an old memory
I’m a tree that hides me from the world
and lets me think about
who I am
who I want to be
What a memory

Sarah Jacobus, LCSW, MFA, is a Los Angeles social worker with a Master of Fine Arts Degree in creative writing. She is committed to creative engagement for elders with memory loss as a tool for meaningful self-expression, community building and fun. Trained and certified by APP founder Gary Glazner, she is currently bringing the APP method to senior centers, care communities and individuals in Los Angeles County

Learn more about Sarah’s work at www.imaginethat.la

ONION

This poem was created by the poets of Barelas Share Your Care, in Albuquerque, New Mexico and poet Michelle Otero on February 6, 2012. 

The model poems Otero used were “Ode to the Onion” by Pablo Neruda and “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

As this is part of the APP Spanish language project she also used the Dicho: "Del dicho al hecho hay gran trecho." (From the word to the act, there’s quite a long path.) 

Otero writes about the session, "Participants raised and lowered their arms like waves as we read 'The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls.' They laughed when I introduced Neruda’s 'Ode to the Onion.' I shared with them the names of other Neruda Odes ('Ode to My Socks,' 'Ode to the Dictionary,' 'Ode to the Apple') and then passed around five large onions I had brought in as props. Many remembered growing onions in their gardens.

We passed an onion as a sort of talking stick when writing our onion poem. Many of the participants rubbed the skin between their fingers or smoothed their hands over the round surface. Having something to hold and respond to led to some creative lines of poetry and inspired one woman to sing a song she’d learned as a child, changing the lyrics to fit our poem ('Lonely little onion in a turnip patch…').

 

Onion

 

This onion feels like a hand.

It’s a nice onion, as big as a baseball.

We grew lots of onions in West Virginia,

lonely little onion in a turnip patch

Está bonita esta cebolla.

¿Quién sabe qué diría?

En Cuahtemoc tienen cebolla, melon.

It feels very thin, almost like from a tree.

If this onion could talk, it would say,

“I’m getting so hungry, I’m gonna eat myself.”

It’s pretty because it’s so round.

If this onion could talk, it would say,

“Don’t eat me!”

The onion feels hard, it smells real bad.

Onions have a sweet taste.

They enhance the flavor of other foods.

It’s good when it grows.

It goes to the children.

I was following my children.

I don’t what you’d call this onion, but it’s round and cold.

If this onion could talk, it would say,

“If you take my outer skin off, I’m gonna make you cry.”

This onion feels like eggplant, smooth, really smooth.

I knew the names of all the onions. I forgot.

This onion’s name is Smelling Good,

brings back memories of my mom cooking dinner,

chopping onions, a good bowl of onion soup.

It smells like vinegar. And they cut it. It makes you cry.

Onion heals a cold. Just cut it open,

chop it up, put some Caro syrup on it and eat it.

Yum!

Onions probably grow in the ground,

but that thing sticking out feels like a leaf

so maybe it’s a tree.

Kids Who Give

Max Wallack the teenage poet whose poem was featured in Dementia Arts on Capitol Hill has been awarded $1000 from KidsWhoGive.com. Max is giving the money to Alzheimer’s research. Please help him win an additional $10,000 by voting for him at Kids Who Give at:  
http://kidswhogive.com/vote-on-entries/

Here is his poem from Dementia Arts on Capitol Hill:

Dementia

It gallops in silently on powerful hoofs
Snatching sweet, precious, forgotten memories
Turning true-blue loyal friends into treacherous strangers
Clogging synapses with emptiness
Crumbling trust into excruciating paranoia

With bleak darkness comes the anxious wakefulness of broad daylight
And bitter terror encompasses every living fiber
"If I sleep, where will I be when I wake up?"
The compulsion to run, the paralysis of fear

Mature, child-like dependence
Retracing youthful development, but in rapid reverse
Cureless medicines, meaningless conversations
Leading up to the inevitable

This poem was first published at Mind Set Poetry. The site is hosted by the Alzheimer's Association
Massachusetts/New Hampshire Chapter. Read the poems and learn more at : http://mindsetpoetry.org/

Max is also the founder of Puzzles-To-Remember. You may reading about the project on at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Puzzles-To-Remember/106150529406566?group_id=0

Valentine's Dance

New York Memory Center & Alzheimer’s Poetry Project Present

Valentine’s Dance at the Memory Arts Café

Memory Arts Café is a new series of free art events for people living with Alzheimer’s disease, their caregivers and the general public and is co-produced by New York Memory Center and the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project. The series, which takes place on the 2nd Wednesday of each month, includes light refreshments and the opportunity to chat with the guest artists.

This Memory Arts Café event features the dance company Rhythm Break Cares (RBC). Poet Gary Glazner will host the event.

Wednesday, February 13th, at 6 pm

New York Memory Center

199 14th Street at 4th Avenue • Brooklyn, NY 11215

(Take the R to Prospect Ave.)

For info: call (718) 499-7701 or visit alzpoetry.com

Please join us for an evening of fun, dancing and socializing. Rhythm Break Cares (RBC) takes a unique and highly effective approach to address the widespread and immediate needs of individuals with Alzheimer’s, associated dementias, and their caregivers, by engaging them in partner dance as a means to improve their quality of life. Since 2009, RBC has successfully offered this interesting form of dance therapy, which capitalizes on the demonstrated benefits of music, movement and touch. Their sessions provide a rare opportunity for patients and their caregivers to escape some of the burdens associated with Alzheimer’s and dementia, in a stress-free environment where they can observe, participate and be entertained.

APP in Seoul, South Korea

Azaleas

by Kim So-wol

(Translation by Brother Anthony)

When seeing me sickens you

and you walk out

I'll send you off without a word, no fuss.

Yongbyon's mount Yaksan's

azaleas

by the armful I'll scatter in your path.

With parting steps

on those strewn flowers

treading lightly, go on, leave.

When seeing me sickens you

and you walk out

why, I'd rather die than weep one tear.

APP workshop in Seoul, South Korea on Nov. 1st, 2012 This workshop was led by Gary Glazner and Michelle Otero on using poetry to enhance the creativity of people living with dementia through the performance and creation of poetry. The workshop was sponsored by the Koran Art and Culture Education Service. KACES is a government agency under Ministry of Culture supporting arts and culture education through Korea in many different arts field - public schools and communities including childcare centers, facilities for the elderly/the disabled, military officers and correctional facilities. More info at: http://eng.arte.or.kr/arte_eng/index.jsp

Jim on Dementia Arts

Jim describes participating in the Memory Arts Cafe performance at IONA Senior Services on Thursday, Sept. 20th in Washington DC. The event was part of the Dementia Arts Festival and featured musician Judith-Kate Friedman, Songwriting Works, dancer Maria Genne, Kairos Alive! and poet Gary Glazner More info at dementiaarts.com

Jelly Fish

A special session of the Memory Arts Café took place on Saturday, October 13th, as part of
Parachute: the Coney Island Performance Festival at the New York Aquarium.

Two New Poems

Screaming Under Water                   

I don’t like silence,

I like this.

Have the children been out today?

I love silence.

The orchid is lavender,

like the shirt of the aide.

Beautiful sounds –

I have a stack of cd’s and books,

I have nothing else.

Love makes a house a home.

I have loved

every person I have ever known.

It never goes away –

I never lose any of it.

The woman who screams under water

is in a lot of pain,

but not above the water.

If you wanted to join the Red Cross

you had to swim many laps

to prove your endurance.

I am a person who needs

a lot of time – I am a Buddhist

and I got this out of it.

The love is impressed through every letter.

One thing that could not be taken away:

imagination.

Could you close the window? –

I’m cold.

I want to be out of here.

Silence in the Storm

Silence can say more than speaking.

It can be more intense

and safer.

My godfather was an evangelist.

He used to say: that’s another star in your crown.

My mother once told me

to go to her bedroom,

but don’t touch the brush,

lay down on your stomach

and don’t move.

What crimes do three-year olds make?

None.

In a sports game I expect

to be bounced around like a ball.

Shoes used to be filled with straw for warmth.

A black orchid keeps Brenda Star alive.

Sometime’s silence is not enough.

Either the poet was battered,

or he did the battering.

I used to dream so often,

I don’t so much anymore –

I am kind of thankful for that.

Screaming Under Water and  Silence in the Storm were created in sessions in Santa Fe, New Mexico led by APP artist Joanne Dwyer working with the poets of Kingston and Rosemont  respectively.  The model poems Dwyer used included: “Silence” Billy Collins; “A Poem for S.” Jessica Greenbaum; “Don’t Tell Anyone” Tony Hoagland and “Home” Edgar Albert Guest. 

Dwyer writes of one of the sessions, " The atmosphere at can be quite chaotic as was this visit. It made it hard at times to talk above the volume. I was nervous, unsure of how this session would go and was relieved and greatly surprised (and pleased) that once I began reading the first poem the whole place hushed and a sense of quiet and peace ensued."

     

Memory Arts Café

New York Memory Center & Alzheimer’s Poetry Project Launch

New York State’s First Memory Arts Café

Memory Arts Café is a new series of free art events for people living with Alzheimer’s disease, their caregivers and the general public, and is co-produced by New York Memory Center and the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project. The series takes place on the 2nd Wednesday of each month and includes light refreshments and the opportunity to chat with the guest artists. 

Wednesday, June 13 at 6 pm

New York Memory Center

199 14th Street at 4^th Avenue • Brooklyn, NY 11215

(Take the R to Prospect Ave.)

For info: call (718) 499-7701 or visit alzpoetry.com

About the performers:

Legendary jazz critic, Nat Hentoff, has praised Roger’s work as "the most joyously encouraging way of expanding the audience for jazz."  In partnership with the NYC Alzheimer Association Chapter and jazz singer, Peter Eldridge, Ms. Rogers has produced two Alzheimer's benefit concerts entitled “For Those We Love.” (louiserogers.org)

The Boston Globe wrote of pianist, composer, educator, and bandleader Mark Kross "Kross digs hard with a bright contemporary piano style with Monkish bop influences.” He is the Head of the Music Department at the Middlesex School, an independent high school in Concord, MA and has released five CD’s with his band, The Mark Kross Five-Piece Trio.

About the producers:
Founded in 1983, the mission of New York Memory Center is to help older adults who have cognitive, physical, and emotional limitations, to maintain or improve their level of functioning so that they may enjoy their later years at home and within the community. Through an innovative wellness center, New York Memory Center meets the needs of individuals living with Alzheimer’s and related dementia disorders and their Caregivers. NYMC offers two primary programs: Lotus Club, an early intervention and support program for those experiencing the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s and related dementias; and Memory Life Services, a program which provides more extensive services suitable for adults in the community with middle to later stage memory loss. For additional information, please visit nymemorycenter.org.

Gary Glazner founded the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project (APP) in 2004. The APP was awarded the 2012 MetLife Foundation Creativity and Aging in America Leadership Award in the category of Community Engagement. The National Endowment for the Arts listed the APP as a “best practice” for their Arts and Aging initiative. NBC's “Today” show, NPR's “All Things Considered” and Voice of America have featured segments on the APP.

Poetry at MoMA

Picasso! Rousseau! Van Gogh! This "art cheer," celebrates the 3 artists highlighted during the Dec. 13th, 2011, session of Meet Me at MoMA. The session was co-lead by Francesca Rosenberg, Director of Community and Access Programs and APP director Gary Glazner. More on Meet Me at MoMA at: http://www.moma.org/meetme/index

APP in the News