Let the fall be long.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let every child inside me find her shoes<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n and dance wildly, softly, toward the world.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I have a story I have never told<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Once, when I was small,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked up at the sky and saw the wind<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n and knew I was a dancer made of song.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I am still a dancer made of song.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wow. What a testament to the power of poetry to reach beyond our usual modes of communication, which dementia so cruelly disrupts. In a few simple lines, we\u2019re able to see this woman as she might see herself, as the human living under the veils of age and disease: \u201cI am still a dancer made of song.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The person who shared the poem thanked Fasano for \u201chelping people find their voices,\u201d which is exactly what his book of poetry prompts, \u201cThe Magic Words: Simple Poetry Prompts That Unlock the Creativity in Everyone<\/a>,\u201c<\/a> was meant to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the book\u2019s introduction<\/a>, Fasano shares that he\u2019d been invited to speak to a class of second graders in New Jersey in 2022 to share \u201cthe craft and magic of poetry.\u201d As part of his efforts, he came up with a poetry prompt that could \u201chelp guide their imaginations\u201d and \u201cunlock the images, thoughts and feelings inside them, without asking them to worry about how to structure a poem.\u201d He called the results \u201castonishing.\u201d When he shared one of the students\u2019 poems on social media, it and the prompt took off like wildfire, as people who never thought of themselves as poets felt empowered to share their imaginations within that framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From 7-year-olds to 92-year-olds, anyone can benefit from the self-expression that poetry facilitates, but many people feel hesitant or intimidated by the idea of writing a poem. Fasano writes, \u201cPoetry is what happens when we let ourselves be,\u201d and this idea seems so clear in the former dancer\u2019s poem above. Dementia can create roadblocks, but poetry provides a different avenue of communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using poetry to help dementia patients communicate and express themselves isn\u2019t just wishful thinking. Studies have demonstrated<\/a> that cultural arts interventions, including poetry specifically, can be beneficial for people with dementia. In fact, the Alzheimer\u2019s Poetry Project (APP) aims to use poetry as a means of improving the quality of life of people living with dementia by facilitating creative expression. \u201cWe do not set boundaries in our beliefs in what possible for people with memory impairment to create,\u201d the APP website states. \u201cBy saying to people with dementia, we value you and your creativity; we are saying we value all members of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nPoetry prompts can help people express themselves in ways they otherwise couldn\u2019t<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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