Memory Arts Cafe Visits Prospect Park

Picnic in the Park

Special Guest: United States Poet Laureate, Natasha Trethewey

Please join for a Memory Arts Café field trip to Prospect Park. We will visit the Boathouse, watch swans glide on a lake and see a waterfall. We will take in the park’s most famous tree the “Camperdown Elm,” which was planted in Brooklyn in 1872. It’s one of only a few surviving trees in the world grafted from an elm on the estate of the Earl of Camperdown in Scotland.

Poet Gary Glazner will lead the group in the creation of a new poem inspired by the nature of Prospect Park. Yes! It will be an easy walk in the park.

In 2012, Trethewey was named as 19th U.S. Poet Laureate by the Library of Congress. Trethewey plans to travel to cities and towns across the country meeting with the general public to seek out the many ways poetry lives in American communities and report on her discoveries in a regular feature on the PBS NewsHour Poetry Series.

Fox Valley Memory Project

First Ever! World Premier!
Inaugural Foxy River & Chocolate
Tasting Extravaganza Poem!
(The 55 poets of the Fox Valley Memory Project, with poet Gary Glazner and organizers John and Susan McFadden and Betty Lefebvre-Hill on July 24th, 2013, wrote this poem. These words set forth here commemorate the initial field trip Fox Valley Memory Cafes to Seroogy’s Homemade Chocolates, the River Room Restaurant, and a cruise on the Fox River. Which by the way did you know the river flows north?)

When I think of today, I think of fellowship,
Getting together to go to the river.

On the subject of chocolate:
I ate the whole piece!
Very smooth, sweet and just about perfect.
It bloomed in my mouth.
The taste of chocolate is friendly.

The coffee is good and hot.
Do you like it creamy?

Oooooooooo that chocolate was good.
The melt aways caused us to buy melt aways.
How would I describe the chocolate?
Uuuuuuum, uuuuuuum sooooth stuff!

On the subject of lunch:
Chicken, chicken, fish, chicken, chicken, fish.
Fabulous, tasty, excellent!
How would I describe the fish? Swimmingly!

On the subject of the river:
It's great, the first time I have had a river ride.
Lots of history.
We were raised a little way from here.
I love the white pelicans.
The lazy ones who don't want to fly all
the way to Canada.

A wonderful bird is the pelican,
His bill will hold more than his belican.
He can take in his beak
Food enough for a week,
But I'm damned if I see how the helican.

I love the water.
I love being out on a beautiful day.
Letting the boat rock me to sleep.

I like to go on the water but I don't want to be in the water.

There are lots of things I love about today.
What do i like about today?
Being out in the fresh air, the sunlight and the chocolate.

Enjoying the view on a perfect day.
I did not realize there was so much on the river.

I love seeing my mom out and enjoying herself
The smile on her face.

I like seeing bridges going up.
Seeing this part of the river.

There nothing like being on the water.
I love the calming effect.
Let someone else do the driving.

Memory Arts Cafe at Coney Island

Memory Arts Cafe at Coney Island Boardwalk and Aquarium.
Join us in Coney Island as we tour the boardwalk, aquarium and
Nathans Famous Frankfurters.
Saturday, July 27th, 10:00am
Surf Ave & W 8th Street, Brookyn NY 11224

For those living with Alzheimer’s disease,
their caregivers and friends.
Hosted by poet Gary Glazner. He will lead the audience in the creation
of a new poem inspired by Coney Island.

Glazner’s work has been featured on NBC’s “Today Show” and National
Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.” Glazner was awarded the 2012
MetLife Foundation Creativity and Aging in
America Leadership Award in the category of Community Engagement.
For info: 718-499-7701 or nymemorycenter.org

Memory Arts Café is co-produced by New York Memory Center
and the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project

Partially Funded by the Brooklyn Arts Council.

APP at the Memory Cafe in Middleton Wisconsin

The CBS Affiliate in Madison, Wisconsin broadcast a story on the APP at the Memory Cafe, which is organized by the Alzheimer's and Dementia Alliance of Wisconsin. Kathy King did a wonderful job of capturing the story and the laughter. It was an honor and a fun group to work with.

APPLETON POETRY PARTY

APPLETON POETRY PARTY

Residents and staff who have participated in the three-month long Appleton Poetry Project invite the public to join them in the culminating celebration of their poetry-making.

The celebration will take place on July 23 from 10:00-11:00 a.m. in Ogilvie Hall at the Thompson Community Center. Refreshments will be served. For more information, go to www.alzpoetry.com or contact Gary Glazner at: gary@alzpoetry.com.

Participants in the Appleton Poetry Project live and work at Brewster Village, Appleton Health Care Center, Fox River Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Valley VNA Senior Services, and Bridgewood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

Residents and staff will present well-loved classic poems and originally created works. As a highlight of the event, New York poet, Gary Glazner, the internationally acclaimed founder and director of the Alzheimer Poetry Project, will lead the audience in the creation of a new poem.

This will be a high energy, fun event with lots of audience participation. It will highlight the creativity of people living with memory loss in long-term care.

All are welcome to come and experience this exciting form of creative engagement for people with dementia. This event is sponsored by the Helen Bader Foundation, the Poetry Foundation, the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project, and the Fox Valley Memory Project.

The Alzheimer’s Poetry Project Meets Cowboys Real and Imagined

In the hallowed tradition of campfire tales and cowboy poetry, the Alzheimer's Poetry Project holds a special session at the New Mexico History Museum on Friday, June 21, 10-11 am. People living with dementia, their family members and the general public are invited to participate in performing and creating poetry inspired by the new exhibit Cowboys Real and Imagined. Gary Glazner, founder and executive director of the APP and APP poets Joanne Dwyer and Michelle Otero will lead the session.

Cowboys Real and Imagined explores New Mexico’s cowboy legacy from its origin in the Spanish vaquero tradition through itinerant hired hands, outlaws, rodeo stars, cowboy singers, Tom Mix movies and more. Guest curated by B. Byron Price, director of the Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West at the University of Oklahoma, the exhibit grounds the cowboy story in New Mexico through rare photographs, cowboy gear, movies and art. It includes a bounty of artifacts ranging in size from the palm-sized tintype of Billy the Kid purchased at a 2011 auction by William Koch to the chuck wagon once used by cowboys on New Mexico’s legendary Bell Ranch.

The event is free by reservation, but limited to 30 participants. For more information or reservations, contact Gary Glazner at garyglaznerpoet@gmail.com

The Alzheimer’s Poetry Project is funded in part by the Santa Fe Arts Commission, New Mexico Arts, a division of the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Poetry Foundation.

Ode To My Fathers Dementia

This a powerful poem and statement from Antrobus. His outlook on his father's dementia is articulate and moving. The last line is a battle cry for caregivers. Please give it a look and listen.

Raymond Antrobus is a spoken word poet and photographer, born and bred in Hackney. He is co-curator of Chill Pill/Keats House Forum and has performed along side authors and poets such as Margret Atwood, Michael Horovitz, Lemm Sissay, Benjamin Zephaniah & Kwame Dawes. Raymond appeared on series 5 of BBC Radio 4’s Bespoken Word.

Follow him on twitter - @RaymondAntrobus - His book Shapes & Disfigurements is out now on Burning Eye books - http://burningeyebooks.wordpress.com/...

More info on Antrobus at:
http://raymondantrobus.blogspot.com/